Using Generative AI to create ancient Nigerian Igbo gods — Part 1
Inspired by Season 2 of the Traceroute podcast, Episode 10, The ancient as modern, again I utilized Generative AI to make the old new again. There has not been a new visual representation of the Igbo gods for many centuries. Said another way, Grace Ewura-Esithe host of Traceroute puts it “It’s the ancient as modern, again” which is also the title of the episode. Grace provides a unique benefit for Generative AI that I that I had not ever considered.
AI can help us not only make new discoveries but gives old discoveries a new perspective.
Season 2 of the Traceroute podcast, Episode 10, The ancient as modern, again describes how Generative AI could be used to help other nations, cultures, and tribes reconstruct missing portions of ancient languages and lost artifacts. It’s an episode that’s part mystery, part paradigm shift, and part digital archeology. While the art representing the Igbo gods may be largely lost to moth, rust, and what thieves destroyed, in this blog post, I describe how to aspired to leverage ChatGPT and Midjourney to bring these gods back to life.
Prompt Thread #1 — Assess Awareness
I’m not sure if this qualifies as “Prompt Engineering” but I wanted to leverage Generative AI for all of my own inquiry and learning. My first prompt thread was to simply ask an awareness question to see if my idea was viable. My prompt to ChatGPT was simply, “Are you familiar with the Igbo gods?” Here is the response I received.
Yes, I’m familiar with the Igbo gods. The Igbo people are an ethnic group from southeastern Nigeria, and their traditional religion includes a pantheon of deities and spirits. These deities are often referred to as “Igbo gods” or “Igbo deities.” It’s important to note that the beliefs and practices of the Igbo religion can vary among different communities and individuals. Some of the prominent Igbo gods include:
Chukwu (Chineke): Chukwu is considered the supreme god and creator of the universe. He is often associated with the sky and is believed to be the source of all things.
Amadioha (Kamalu): Amadioha is the god of thunder and lightning. He is revered as a powerful and sometimes fearsome deity associated with justice and punishment.
Ala (Ani): Ala is the goddess of the earth and fertility. She is highly venerated and associated with agricultural prosperity and the well-being of the community.
Ikenga: Ikenga is the god of achievement, success, and strength. He is often depicted as a horned man with one hand holding a knife and the other a symbol of authority.
Agwu: Agwu is the god of health, divination, and healing. He is believed to provide spiritual guidance and healing abilities to designated priests and diviners.
Mami Wata (Mami Water): While not exclusive to the Igbo people, Mami Wata is a widely recognized water spirit or deity in Igbo culture. She is associated with water, beauty, wealth, and feminine power.
Idemili: Idemili is the goddess of freshwater and is revered as the mother of the rivers. She is particularly important in communities near bodies of water.
Prompt Thread #2 — Identify Art Timeframe
Next, my prompt to ChatGPT was to learn about the time frame of the art which would then lead me to my third question in this thread. So I simply asked, “what year was the Igbo gods worshiped?” because I wanted to find out a specific time period.
The worship of Igbo gods dates back to ancient times and continues to the present day. The exact origins of Igbo traditional religion and the worship of their gods are not well-documented in historical records due to the lack of a written tradition among the Igbo people before the introduction of writing systems by European colonizers.
The Igbo people have a rich and ancient oral tradition that has been passed down through generations. The worship of their gods and ancestral spirits has been an integral part of their cultural and religious practices for centuries. Before the arrival of Christianity and Islam in the region, the vast majority of the Igbo population practiced their traditional religion, which included the veneration of various gods and deities.
With the arrival of European colonial powers in the 19th and 20th centuries, Christianity and Islam spread in Nigeria, including among the Igbo people. As a result, the religious landscape of the region underwent significant changes, and many Igbo people converted to these new faiths. However, despite the influence of Christianity and Islam, a significant number of Igbo people continue to follow their traditional religious beliefs and practices, including the worship of their ancestral gods.
Prompt Thread #3 — Discover Options for Visual Style
While I could have gotten started by visiting Midjourney and providing a prompt similar to those described in Andy Wood’s article, African God — Midjourney prompt, e.g., “/imagine prompt: African God, photorealistic, high resolution, backlit, cinematic.” Yet, this was not the visualization I was going for. Beautiful modern photorealistic images YES!
While the Igbo gods who’s art may be largely lost to what moth, rust, and thieves destroyed, I wanted to leverage Generative AI technology to bring these gods back to life. To do so, I thought it would be best to incorporate the artistic style that may have occurred during the time when the Igbo gods were worshiped and also ask Midjourney to create the images similar to famous artists from each of those artistic styles.
Therefore, as a follow-up prompt, I asked ChatGPT, “Is there a particular artistic style of Nigerian art from this time period?” which provided me a rich response in return.
Yes, Nigerian art has a rich and diverse history with various artistic styles that have evolved over different time periods. Given the long and intricate history of Nigeria and its many ethnic groups, art styles have varied across regions and communities. Since we are discussing the time period when the Igbo gods were worshiped, which extends to ancient times and beyond, let’s focus on the broader traditional Nigerian art styles during that era.
Nok Art (500 BCE — 200 CE): The Nok civilization is one of the earliest known complex societies in Nigeria, and Nok art is one of the oldest forms of Nigerian art. Nok art is famous for its terracotta sculptures, particularly life-sized human figures and animals. These sculptures display remarkable technical skill and artistic expression.
Ife Art (12th — 15th centuries): The ancient city of Ife, located in present-day southwestern Nigeria, is known for its exceptional bronze and terracotta sculptures. Ife art is characterized by its naturalistic representations of human figures, emphasizing detailed facial features and intricate body adornments.
Benin Art (13th — 19th centuries): The Kingdom of Benin, situated in what is now southern Nigeria, produced remarkable brass and ivory sculptures. Benin art is renowned for its historical plaques, royal statues, and intricately cast bronze heads.
Igbo-Ukwu Art (9th — 10th centuries): Igbo-Ukwu is an ancient Igbo town in southeastern Nigeria known for its impressive archaeological finds. The Igbo-Ukwu culture produced intricate bronze artifacts, including ceremonial vessels, jewelry, and other objects with exquisite detailing.
Sokoto Caliphate Art (19th century): During the 19th century, the Sokoto Caliphate, established in northern Nigeria, saw the emergence of Islamic-influenced art styles. Elaborate calligraphy and decorative patterns adorned manuscripts, textiles, and architectural elements.
Prompt Thread #4 — Find Artists Aligned with Art Style
Lastly, as a follow-up prompt in this thread, I wanted to find artists that created art within these styles that I’m learning about. So I asked ChatGPT, “Please provide me the names of some famous artists for these 5 art styles mentioned here?” which then provided me some artists names that I could include in my Midjourney prompts.
Certainly! While specific names of ancient artists from these historical periods are not always known due to the lack of written records, the following are examples of significant Nigerian artists who have contributed to the preservation and continuation of these art styles in more recent times:
El Anatsui and Bruce Onobrakpeya are contemporary artists that were inspired by Nok art and ancient terracotta sculpture.
Ben Enwonwu is a renowned Nigerian artist often referred to as the “father of modern Nigerian art.” His work includes sculptures and paintings that draw inspiration from Ife art and traditional Nigerian motifs.
Oba Akenzua II was not an artist himself, but as the Oba (king) of Benin in the mid-20th century, he played a crucial role in preserving and promoting Benin art and culture.
Ben Osawe was a contemporary Nigerian artist known for his modern interpretations of traditional Benin art styles.
Solomon Wangboje was an artist from Igbo-Ukwu known for his modern sculptures and metalwork, inspired by the ancient Igbo-Ukwu artifacts.
Uche Okeke was a prominent Nigerian artist associated with the Nsukka Art School, he was influenced by Islamic art and indigenous African aesthetics, incorporating calligraphy and patterns in his work.
Review & Validate ChatGPT Results
You may notice that I linked external references to Wikipedia and Google Search results because I wanted to verify that these artists referenced by ChatGPT were in fact artists. I will note that, ChatGPT did note that Oba Akenzua II was not an artist and Ben Osawe and Solomon Wangboje may be lesser known artists because they did not have Wikipedia pages. Therefore I’ve omitted these artists from this mini-experiment.
Also, only three of the artists, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Ben Enwonwu, and Uche Okeke seemed to either create art in the form of paintings or drawings which could be generated by Midjourney. For example, while El Anatsui’s art seemed to be a mix between painting and sculpture so I decided to not go with this artist.
Creating Midjourney Prompt Anatomy
Based on my previous experience creating prompts from scratch and/or asking ChatGPT to create Midjourney prompts for me, one of the key aspects of a prompt’s anatomy is a visual style of the image. For example, I highly recommend Tristan Wolff’s The Midjourney Cheat Sheet (V5.2) for a deeper dive on Midjourney prompt engineering.
**********
Basic Prompt Anatomy:
/imagine prompt: [PREFIX] [SCENE] [SUFFIX] [Parameters]
PREFIX defines image medium & style
SCENE defines content
SUFFIX modulates Prefix & Scene
**********Using Tristan Wolff’s Cheat Sheet as a guide, here is how I intended to create my prompts with the following options.
PREFIX = Drawings such as rock, cave, symbol; Mural Painting; and styles, e.g., Nok Art
SCENE = Name of Igbo god, e.g., Chukwu
SUFFIX = Artist name, e.g., Bruce Onobrakpeya
Parameters = Omit for this experiment
Complete = Mural Painting, Nok Art, Chukwu, Bruce Onobrakpeya
Creating ancient Nigerian Igbo gods
Trial #1 — Chukwu Murals
Following the test example using the above prompt anatomy. Be sure to review the ALT Text Descriptions for each image for the /imagine prompts.
I first started with what I thought would be the perfect prompt. I wanted to incorporate mural as a medium, the artist, etc. What Midjourney provided though was an artist painting a mural.
Next I took out the word mural and wondered what the results would look like with simply the word “painting” medium.
Then I wondered what the results would look like to switch from a “painting” medium to a “drawing” medium. In my opinion these drawings are beautiful, but likely not representative of the times we were going for.
This next series was very interesting. I thought why now switch from paintings and drawings to “symbol.” To be honest I really liked these results and consider these to capture more of the look I was going for. What did interest me though was the artist names etched in the lower right. Seeing the spelling I wondered if this was due to the prompt including “Nok” so I decided to remove in the next prompts.
hese are the results of a more simplified prompt for “symbol” as the medium but removed the artistic style, “Nok.” I really like these results perhaps the best, but as you see, there are still some artist non-sense names in the images.
Lastly I thought, why not try something bazaar. How would a switching the medium to “cave” come out? This was rather humorous because it turned more fantasy drawing but it’s interesting that in some cases there is a sculpture in the cave and then in another more like a wooden carving.
Wondering if leaving off “drawing” and/or “cave,” I went back and incorporated both of those and received results that are more in-line for what we were looking for.
Cave Drawing
Cave Painting
And finally, why not try “sculpture” as a medium? To be honest, my expectations were very low but my results were very pleasing and I’ve included all 4 of the original images received. While these may not be fully representative of sculptures of this time period, the results are beautiful.
Conclusion
What do you think? What did I miss? Do you prefer my attempt at capturing the artistic style of the time for the Igbo gods verses photorealistic images?
Please join me again for a Part 2 where I explore creation of other Igbo gods in the visual style of other artists.
