Ilẹ̀kẹ̀
Beads as Code
01 / INHERITANCE
Begin with the context.
Bead colours, materials and arrangements can communicate office, devotion and affiliation within particular contexts.
Place & variation
Yorùbá-speaking communities; language, performance and interpretation depend on local context.
02 / SYSTEM — EDITORIAL ANALYSIS
Communication & memory.
Material, colour and arrangement convey socially recognised information.
This is the archive’s reading of a structure or relationship, not a claim that the tradition was designed as a modern technology.
03 / FUTURE — INHERITED FUTURES SPECULATION
What should wearable information reveal, and what should it leave private?
Wearable data visualisation.
An artistic proposition to explore. Historical documentation does not establish the technological analogy.
FOLLOW THE RESEARCH
Sources & context.
The linked sources distinguish collection evidence, research and contextual reading. They support the inheritance layer; the system and future layers are editorial interpretations.
- 01The Met — Diviner’s Bag (Apo Ifa) ↗Museum collection / material evidence · Opens source
- 02Allen Memorial Art Museum — Ifa diviner’s necklace ↗Museum collection / material evidence · Opens source
Research edition 01 · September 2026. A desk-research synthesis; not a practitioner-certified account. Some linked books and articles require library access. Read the evidence guide ↗
Follow another thread.
Editorial links connect shared themes, objects and practices. They do not make the records interchangeable.