Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi 02/04 - 26/05/2018

Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi

Princess Iya Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi (Nee Olayiwola-Olosun) was born into a traditional royal family on Iyadudu Royal Compound Osogbo-Osun State, Nigeria and adopted by Madam Susanne Wenger AKA Adunni-Olorisa over 40 years ago. Since then, she has been trained by different priests, priestesses and a number of new sacred artists to participate in an array of traditional activities including traditional textiles and paintings.

Apart from home training and inborn traditional practices, she received her primary school and secondary education in Osogbo from 1971-1982. She received a certificate in Yoruba Oral Literature from the Department of African Languages and Literature in Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. She then received her Bachelor of Arts (Yoruba) degree from the University of Ilorin in 2001 and a Masters of Arts in African Studies from the University of Ibadan in 2005.

Princess Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi has participated in traditional, cultural and arts activities in Portugal, France, Germany, and Austria where she engaged in numerous art exhibitions with her mother, Mama Adunni Olorisa. She also took part in the cultural exchange program with the Manchester Educational Board in the United Kingdom for the Common Wealth Games in 2002.

She was conferred a chieftaincy title as Yeye Apesin Alabola, Masifa, Ejigbo in 2002. It is in recognition of her contribution to the promotion of traditional religion and culture in Nigeria and the Diaspora that she was honored with Merit Awards by Osogbo National Student Union, Osun State Polytechnic IREE in 2002; Olympia Youth Carnival and Olugun Chapel, Osogbo in 2003; Oyo State College of Education, Department of Yoruba Studies, Oyo in 2007. She also received the Award of Excellence by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Osogbo in 2008 as well as the Ajogbare African Cultural Troupe, the Oludare Cultural Troupe in 2010 and the Salako African Cultural Troupe in 2012.

She was invited to participate in the Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora in Bahia, Brazil in 2006. In 2008, she was invited by La Musee Du Quai Branly in Paris, France for a cultural and traditional program which included interviews on Radio France. She has also been a guest lecturer at the Center for African and African American Research at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. In 2011, High Priestess Princess Adedoyin Talabi Faniyi was invited to preside over the traditional opening of the Susanne Wenger Foundation in Kunsthalle, Krem Austria.

She is a high priestess of Yoruba Traditional Religion in Osun, Obatala, Ifa, Egbe, Obaluaye, Ogboni, Aje, Baayanni and participates in Orisa worship in Yorubaland and in the Diaspora.