10 00:00:00,110 --> 00:00:01,690 Good morning, everyone. 11 00:00:01,690 --> 00:00:06,330 Hello, welcome to the second day of the symposium 12 00:00:06,330 --> 00:00:10,810 on repatriation, restitution, and reparation of African art 13 00:00:10,810 --> 00:00:13,560 in the University Vermont Fleming Museum. 14 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,840 I'm Vicki Brennan, an associate professor of religion 15 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,393 and one of the organizers of this week's events. 16 00:00:20,430 --> 00:00:22,300 I want to start today with an acknowledgement 17 00:00:22,300 --> 00:00:24,820 that the University of Vermont and the Fleming Museum 18 00:00:24,820 --> 00:00:29,340 are located on the current ancestral and unceded lands 19 00:00:29,340 --> 00:00:30,773 of the Abenaki people. 20 00:00:31,700 --> 00:00:35,140 I also wanted to state that, as with yesterday's discussion 21 00:00:35,140 --> 00:00:38,450 of the politics of repatriation, land acknowledgements 22 00:00:38,450 --> 00:00:40,110 are only a starting point, 23 00:00:40,110 --> 00:00:43,540 not a political action in and of itself. 24 00:00:43,540 --> 00:00:46,050 However, they are important while we debate 25 00:00:46,050 --> 00:00:49,090 and discuss the legacies of imperialism 26 00:00:49,090 --> 00:00:50,920 that are still active in our communities 27 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,233 and our world today at this symposium. 28 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,130 Finally, the organizers of this event wish to acknowledge 29 00:00:58,130 --> 00:01:00,900 and offer our unequivocal support to those groups 30 00:01:00,900 --> 00:01:02,850 on the University of Vermont campus, 31 00:01:02,850 --> 00:01:06,720 who are organizing conversations and actions of their own 32 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:09,410 in support of Abenaki communities in Vermont. 33 00:01:09,410 --> 00:01:12,941 In particular, their work with the Land Grab 34 00:01:12,941 --> 00:01:15,490 Universities project, which draws attention 35 00:01:15,490 --> 00:01:19,050 to how the United States funded land grant universities, 36 00:01:19,050 --> 00:01:21,110 such as the University of Vermont 37 00:01:21,110 --> 00:01:23,403 with expropriated indigenous land. 38 00:01:25,380 --> 00:01:29,110 These events, which include this morning's keynote lecture 39 00:01:29,110 --> 00:01:31,940 and this afternoon's artists' lectures and workshops 40 00:01:31,940 --> 00:01:34,610 that will take place at the Fleming Museum 41 00:01:34,610 --> 00:01:37,360 and at the UVM Fab Lab emphasize 42 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:39,153 the importance of restitution. 43 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,200 As stated clearly yesterday, 44 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,010 restitution begins with the return of objects 45 00:01:45,010 --> 00:01:47,350 that were stolen to their original owners 46 00:01:47,350 --> 00:01:49,140 or their descendants, 47 00:01:49,140 --> 00:01:52,070 but as the responses to yesterday's roundtable discussion 48 00:01:52,070 --> 00:01:56,470 clearly stated: restitution also has to involve compensation 49 00:01:56,470 --> 00:01:59,033 for those losses and the harm suffered by them. 50 00:02:00,710 --> 00:02:03,510 Can the museum and the university contribute materially 51 00:02:03,510 --> 00:02:06,280 to practices that lead to a process of repair 52 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,383 to address these historical and contemporary injustices? 53 00:02:10,330 --> 00:02:12,740 As Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, 54 00:02:12,740 --> 00:02:15,780 who co-authored the report on repatriation commissioned 55 00:02:15,780 --> 00:02:19,400 by the French president explains, the loss that Black 56 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:22,250 and African peoples, communities, and nations 57 00:02:22,250 --> 00:02:24,310 have suffered during the colonial era 58 00:02:24,310 --> 00:02:27,330 is clearly beyond compensation. 59 00:02:27,330 --> 00:02:30,000 However, it's possible that the restitution 60 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,410 of cultural artifacts to their communities of origin 61 00:02:34,410 --> 00:02:37,580 can allow African youth to access their history, 62 00:02:37,580 --> 00:02:39,730 craftsmanship, and resources, 63 00:02:39,730 --> 00:02:43,000 and to re-imagine the future through a reconsidered 64 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,663 engagement with the past. 65 00:02:46,010 --> 00:02:47,780 Today, we've invited three artists 66 00:02:47,780 --> 00:02:51,020 to the University of Vermont who offer artistic practices 67 00:02:51,020 --> 00:02:53,430 of memory and activism that help 68 00:02:53,430 --> 00:02:57,323 restore the past, present, and future of Black life. 69 00:02:59,570 --> 00:03:03,020 I'm honored to introduce this morning's keynote speaker, 70 00:03:03,020 --> 00:03:04,393 Dr. Peju Layiwola. 71 00:03:05,410 --> 00:03:08,500 She earned a bachelor of arts in 1988 72 00:03:08,500 --> 00:03:12,400 at the University of Benin, Benin City and an MA 73 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:14,850 and a PhD in art history at the University 74 00:03:14,850 --> 00:03:18,453 of Ibadan in 1991 and 2004. 75 00:03:19,780 --> 00:03:23,620 She describes herself as being blessed with a dual heritage 76 00:03:23,620 --> 00:03:25,650 as a descendant of both Yoruba 77 00:03:25,650 --> 00:03:28,133 and Edo lineages in Nigeria. 78 00:03:29,070 --> 00:03:31,160 In her artistic practice and study, 79 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:33,560 she follows in the footsteps of her mother, 80 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:36,280 Princess Elizabeth Olowu, daughter 81 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,403 of Oba Akenzua II of Benin. 82 00:03:42,490 --> 00:03:43,980 Layiwola works in a variety of media, 83 00:03:43,980 --> 00:03:48,140 ranging from metalwork and pottery to textile and sculpture 84 00:03:48,140 --> 00:03:49,970 in order to address the diverse thrust 85 00:03:49,970 --> 00:03:52,920 of the post-colonial African condition. 86 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,480 She focuses on personal and communal histories, 87 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,680 which centralized Benin as both an ancient kingdom 88 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:00,513 and a contemporary city. 89 00:04:01,660 --> 00:04:03,210 In her teaching, writing, and art 90 00:04:03,210 --> 00:04:05,810 there was continuous engagement with themes of artifact, 91 00:04:05,810 --> 00:04:10,610 pillage, repatriation, and restitution, history, memory, 92 00:04:10,610 --> 00:04:15,190 gender, and the continually mutable processes of production. 93 00:04:15,190 --> 00:04:20,190 Her exhibitions, which range from Benin1897.com: 94 00:04:20,190 --> 00:04:22,250 Art and the Restitution Question, 95 00:04:22,250 --> 00:04:26,970 which she staged in 2010 to the more recent Indigo 96 00:04:26,970 --> 00:04:31,410 Re-imagined of 2019, all explore issues of political, 97 00:04:31,410 --> 00:04:33,310 cultural, and social memory. 98 00:04:33,310 --> 00:04:34,890 And I'll just brag a minute to say 99 00:04:34,890 --> 00:04:38,380 that I have had the fortune to see both of those exhibitions 100 00:04:38,380 --> 00:04:40,770 in person, and they are wonderful, 101 00:04:40,770 --> 00:04:44,223 amazing, thought-provoking works of art. 102 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:47,840 So I'm excited to welcome her virtually 103 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:49,950 to the University of Vermont. 104 00:04:49,950 --> 00:04:52,470 You are encouraged to offer your thoughts and queries 105 00:04:52,470 --> 00:04:54,223 in the chat box. 106 00:04:55,496 --> 00:04:57,840 And Dr. Layiwola will be able to respond 107 00:04:57,840 --> 00:05:01,480 to some of the questions after today's lecture. 108 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,720 So with that, I'll turn it over to you, Dr. Layiwola 109 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:05,923 Thank you so much for being here, Ẹ ṣe gaan. 110 00:05:08,968 --> 00:05:10,152 - Thank you so much Vicki. 111 00:05:10,152 --> 00:05:12,390 I'd like to thank you so much for this opportunity 112 00:05:12,390 --> 00:05:15,590 to give this keynote address. 113 00:05:15,590 --> 00:05:17,740 I'm gonna share my screen now 114 00:05:17,740 --> 00:05:22,420 and let's see if this works. 115 00:05:22,420 --> 00:05:23,625 Is it okay? 116 00:05:23,625 --> 00:05:24,725 Can you see my screen? 117 00:05:25,610 --> 00:05:26,457 - Yes, great. 118 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,760 - OK. In the last few years, there's been a spate of publications, 119 00:05:32,930 --> 00:05:35,110 symposia, webinars, conferences, 120 00:05:35,110 --> 00:05:39,370 exhibitions on the looted Benin bronzes has increased. 121 00:05:39,370 --> 00:05:41,980 The world has woken up to address in the aftermath 122 00:05:41,980 --> 00:05:45,290 of the great injustice committed over a century ago, 123 00:05:45,290 --> 00:05:47,760 in Benin City, with the sack of the city, 124 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,000 and looting of thousands of artifacts 125 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:51,820 by British forces in 1897. 126 00:05:53,224 --> 00:05:57,160 Recent publications appear on Benin looted art, 127 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,470 and have become really popular. 128 00:05:59,470 --> 00:06:02,472 The process of repatriating looted Benin objects 129 00:06:02,472 --> 00:06:04,090 has begun. 130 00:06:04,090 --> 00:06:08,517 Only last week we saw the official handing over of the brass 131 00:06:12,168 --> 00:06:13,660 I don't know what's happening here. 132 00:06:14,990 --> 00:06:15,823 It's not responding. 133 00:06:15,823 --> 00:06:16,656 Okay, that's it. 134 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:22,200 The brass cock, Okhokho to Nigerian officials 135 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:24,050 and representatives of his royal majesty 136 00:06:24,050 --> 00:06:26,030 Oba Ewuare II, 137 00:06:26,030 --> 00:06:29,520 by Jesus College Cambridge, 138 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,890 we might want to ask what is the importance 139 00:06:31,890 --> 00:06:34,670 of this rare treasure to the culture 140 00:06:34,670 --> 00:06:37,963 that produced it, before its life as a logo or a motif. 141 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,500 So here's the okhokho, which means chicken. 142 00:06:43,500 --> 00:06:46,560 And here is okporu, which is a cockerel roaster, 143 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,060 or iyo-okho, which is the female and the hen 144 00:06:50,060 --> 00:06:53,120 particularly the white hen was used for worship 145 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:56,340 of Olokun, the goddess of fertility. 146 00:06:56,340 --> 00:07:01,080 And the bronze cockerel was usually placed on ancestral, 147 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,910 rare ancestral altars of the king and the queen mother 148 00:07:04,910 --> 00:07:08,510 and chiefs were allowed to use the wooden version 149 00:07:08,510 --> 00:07:11,130 of the cockerel and not the bronze. 150 00:07:11,130 --> 00:07:15,300 And so from Cambridge, 151 00:07:15,300 --> 00:07:16,440 you can see some of the images 152 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:21,440 from the return of the cockerel. 153 00:07:22,824 --> 00:07:24,770 Now you can see how very excited 154 00:07:24,770 --> 00:07:27,470 the officials are here. 155 00:07:27,470 --> 00:07:32,290 So we have more images and from Cambridge 156 00:07:32,290 --> 00:07:33,490 to move over to Aberdeen 157 00:07:35,150 --> 00:07:38,100 to receive yet another looted Benin object. 158 00:07:38,100 --> 00:07:41,210 So beyond the UK, Germany has promised that next year, 159 00:07:41,210 --> 00:07:43,440 well over by a thousand Benin objects 160 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:44,803 are likely to be returned. 161 00:07:46,020 --> 00:07:48,360 In 2019, I was invited to give a lecture 162 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:52,150 at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. 163 00:07:52,150 --> 00:07:54,570 At the time the director of the museum and the team 164 00:07:54,570 --> 00:07:58,060 at RISD were making plans to return two Benin 165 00:07:58,060 --> 00:07:59,420 objects in their collection: 166 00:07:59,420 --> 00:08:02,380 A brass ancestral head acquired in 1939 167 00:08:03,336 --> 00:08:06,510 and the more recently acquired pendant mask. 168 00:08:06,510 --> 00:08:10,130 Both items have been used as materials for teaching. 169 00:08:10,130 --> 00:08:12,430 It is now common practice for curators, 170 00:08:12,430 --> 00:08:15,190 with collections of Benin objects, 171 00:08:15,190 --> 00:08:17,920 to look in their storehouses, to find works 172 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,232 to add to the growing list of objects, 173 00:08:20,232 --> 00:08:22,340 to be repatriated to Nigeria. 174 00:08:22,340 --> 00:08:24,390 It is in this vein that the Fleming Museum here 175 00:08:24,390 --> 00:08:25,770 at the University of Vermont 176 00:08:25,770 --> 00:08:29,373 is also thinking of repatriating the Queen Mother head. 177 00:08:30,230 --> 00:08:32,580 My presentation today will focus on artists' 178 00:08:32,580 --> 00:08:36,760 interventions that surround the clamour for Benin objects. 179 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:39,270 Artists have played a major role in sensitizing 180 00:08:39,270 --> 00:08:41,540 various governments and people about the need 181 00:08:41,540 --> 00:08:43,250 to correct this historical injustice, 182 00:08:43,250 --> 00:08:47,960 meted out to the people of Benin in 1897. 183 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,483 The artistic engagements bring about better understanding 184 00:08:50,483 --> 00:08:52,900 and awareness to this cause, 185 00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:54,757 and like the popular saying goes, 186 00:08:54,757 --> 00:08:57,717 "a picture is worth a thousand words". 187 00:08:58,670 --> 00:09:01,330 I've structured my paper into two parts. 188 00:09:01,330 --> 00:09:02,450 In the first part I will discuss 189 00:09:02,450 --> 00:09:04,250 some of my artistic engagements: 190 00:09:04,250 --> 00:09:09,250 My first solo exhibition in Nigeria titled Benin1897.com 191 00:09:11,750 --> 00:09:13,800 Art and the Restitution Question, 192 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,920 which was held in 2010 at a time 193 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,930 when the restitution issues were not really popular. 194 00:09:19,930 --> 00:09:24,390 It was held on two university campuses, as it was important 195 00:09:24,390 --> 00:09:27,920 to hold discussions on restitution within the academy. 196 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:30,970 This symposium chaired by professor Akin Oyebode, 197 00:09:30,970 --> 00:09:33,510 was held on the opening day. 198 00:09:33,510 --> 00:09:37,300 I will also take us through my public art intervention, 199 00:09:37,300 --> 00:09:41,003 Whose Centenary?, which was curated in 2014. 200 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:45,520 Chimamanda Adichie states in her recent speech 201 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:47,160 at the Humboldt Forum in Germany, 202 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:51,850 that "art lives in history and history lives in art." 203 00:09:51,850 --> 00:09:52,990 In referring to this statement. 204 00:09:52,990 --> 00:09:56,456 I will speak about the dark colonial past of 1897 205 00:09:56,456 --> 00:10:01,410 and the role that contemporary arts plays in reclaiming 206 00:10:01,410 --> 00:10:04,520 ancient and classical Benin art, to what I referred 207 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,157 as art recalling art or art speaking to art. 208 00:10:09,530 --> 00:10:12,430 The second part will focus on a variety of artistic responses 209 00:10:12,430 --> 00:10:15,490 to the Benin story by various other artists. 210 00:10:15,490 --> 00:10:19,180 These artistic engagements appear in various genres, 211 00:10:19,180 --> 00:10:23,610 such as film, plays, musicals, performances, cartoons, 212 00:10:23,610 --> 00:10:27,850 drawings, installations, sculptures, and paintings. 213 00:10:27,850 --> 00:10:30,790 I will conclude with my ongoing curation and its exhibition 214 00:10:30,790 --> 00:10:35,272 titled Resist: The Art of Resistance at the RJ Museum in 215 00:10:35,272 --> 00:10:38,558 Cologne, Germany, which closes in January, 2022. 216 00:10:40,050 --> 00:10:43,430 First, let us look at the location of Benin City. 217 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,730 Benin City is the present-day capital of Edo state, 218 00:10:49,730 --> 00:10:54,140 it was a historic West African kingdom ruled by an all-powerful king 219 00:10:54,140 --> 00:10:58,500 known as the Oba until it was taken over as a British colony. 220 00:10:58,500 --> 00:11:01,340 Benin City should not be confused with the country Benin, 221 00:11:01,340 --> 00:11:03,340 which was a former kingdom of Dahomey, 222 00:11:03,340 --> 00:11:06,620 which acquired its name in 1975, a country, 223 00:11:06,620 --> 00:11:09,480 which is a part of francophone Africa. 224 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:11,570 So we are speaking today about a city 225 00:11:11,570 --> 00:11:13,900 known for its art and culture. 226 00:11:13,900 --> 00:11:14,810 As a young girl, 227 00:11:14,810 --> 00:11:18,180 I witnessed a lot of carvers working in ebony wood, 228 00:11:18,180 --> 00:11:20,120 mahogany, and other sorts of woods 229 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:23,900 cut from the rich forest regions of Benin 230 00:11:23,900 --> 00:11:27,470 and how brass casters transformed their homes 231 00:11:27,470 --> 00:11:29,800 and streets into foundries. 232 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:34,380 Benin was divided into several guilds, of which the guild 233 00:11:34,380 --> 00:11:37,520 of brass casters known as Igun Eronmwon, 234 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:39,083 was the most important. 235 00:11:40,130 --> 00:11:43,150 Skills were passed on within these families. 236 00:11:43,150 --> 00:11:46,010 The casters were court historians and documented 237 00:11:46,010 --> 00:11:49,230 their histories in bronze or brass for the permanence 238 00:11:49,230 --> 00:11:51,270 of the material. 239 00:11:51,270 --> 00:11:54,860 There was huge artistic production everywhere in the city. 240 00:11:54,860 --> 00:11:56,870 One can only imagine how old Benin 241 00:11:56,870 --> 00:11:59,713 was before the infamous attack on the city. 242 00:12:00,950 --> 00:12:03,670 I studied visual art at the University of the Benin specializing 243 00:12:03,670 --> 00:12:05,710 in metalsmithing and casting. 244 00:12:05,710 --> 00:12:08,990 And so I had a rare privilege of working closely 245 00:12:08,990 --> 00:12:12,440 with some of these neo-traditional artists in the city. 246 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:16,510 I was also groomed by my mother, Princess Elizabeth Olowu, 247 00:12:16,510 --> 00:12:19,740 who is an artist and the daughter of His Royal Majesty Oba 248 00:12:19,740 --> 00:12:23,030 Akenzua II who reigned from 1933 to 1978. 249 00:12:25,510 --> 00:12:28,520 She became the first woman to venture into brass casting, 250 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,500 which was the exclusive preserve of males in Benin City. 251 00:12:32,500 --> 00:12:35,710 Her father gave her permission to work with the head 252 00:12:35,710 --> 00:12:38,184 of the Osa family in Igun Street, 253 00:12:38,184 --> 00:12:41,300 where she mastered the cire perdue or lost wax process 254 00:12:41,300 --> 00:12:43,063 of casting in 1976. 255 00:12:44,210 --> 00:12:46,960 Earlier in her career in 1966, 256 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,370 she had apprenticed with a local blacksmith/ 257 00:12:49,370 --> 00:12:52,540 caster whose studio was located opposite 258 00:12:52,540 --> 00:12:55,150 the high school, Itohan Girls Grammar school, 259 00:12:55,150 --> 00:12:56,200 where she taught art. 260 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:00,410 Her work comprises sculptures of women 261 00:13:00,410 --> 00:13:02,540 and tells of their role in Benin City, 262 00:13:02,540 --> 00:13:04,910 their travails at childbearing 263 00:13:04,910 --> 00:13:07,790 and societal and religious beliefs 264 00:13:07,790 --> 00:13:09,883 surrounding their existence. 265 00:13:15,430 --> 00:13:17,330 At college we were surrounded by so much art 266 00:13:17,330 --> 00:13:20,150 that our tutors wanted us to draw on rich resources 267 00:13:20,150 --> 00:13:22,824 that were available to us in Benin. 268 00:13:22,824 --> 00:13:24,910 In the larger Nigerian art historical context, 269 00:13:24,910 --> 00:13:27,870 this charge to return to the rich cultural heritage 270 00:13:27,870 --> 00:13:31,550 was prominently adhered to in the late 1950s 271 00:13:31,550 --> 00:13:34,330 by members of Zaria society, 272 00:13:34,330 --> 00:13:36,560 at the Nigerian College of Art and Science 273 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:38,270 in Northern Nigeria. 274 00:13:38,270 --> 00:13:42,870 This idea is similar to the Ghanaian concept of Sankofa, 275 00:13:42,870 --> 00:13:45,490 the return to the past to forge a direction 276 00:13:45,490 --> 00:13:47,880 and progress into the future. 277 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,890 So I've always referenced some of the amazing Benin 278 00:13:50,890 --> 00:13:53,200 iconography in my work. 279 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,980 In 2005, I was invited to participate 280 00:13:55,980 --> 00:13:57,710 in a research project, 281 00:13:57,710 --> 00:14:00,160 Broken Memory, initiated by a French 282 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,100 anthropologist Bernard Muller. 283 00:14:02,100 --> 00:14:04,210 And that was when I began thinking very seriously 284 00:14:04,210 --> 00:14:07,150 about engaging with Benin art as an area of interest. 285 00:14:07,150 --> 00:14:09,760 This project was to research stories about pillage, 286 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:13,140 about the loss of African objects and what this loss meant 287 00:14:13,140 --> 00:14:16,552 to the communities where they originally emanated from. 288 00:14:16,552 --> 00:14:19,970 This research focused on bronze casters guild at Igun Street. 289 00:14:19,970 --> 00:14:22,220 The research included surveys and interviews 290 00:14:22,220 --> 00:14:25,140 with the artists and reported on the gaps left 291 00:14:25,140 --> 00:14:27,752 by the large-scale expropriated Benin bronze 292 00:14:27,752 --> 00:14:32,570 objects taken by British officers in 1897. 293 00:14:32,570 --> 00:14:36,300 The casters whose forbears produced the looted bronzes 294 00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:38,410 had little access to the range of objects 295 00:14:38,410 --> 00:14:40,870 that are stashed away in Western museums. 296 00:14:40,870 --> 00:14:44,640 They access the works through publications, postcards, 297 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,610 and other prints showing images of Benin looted objects. 298 00:14:48,610 --> 00:14:50,910 Unfortunately, these publications 299 00:14:50,910 --> 00:14:54,250 become artificial filters through which the producers 300 00:14:54,250 --> 00:14:58,593 of Edo cultural heritage engage with the history of their past. 301 00:14:59,460 --> 00:15:02,024 I presented my findings in Paris and Zurich, 302 00:15:02,024 --> 00:15:06,270 and it was Paris that I've met Barbara Plankensteiner, the curator 303 00:15:06,270 --> 00:15:08,587 of the grand exhibition in Benin, 304 00:15:08,587 --> 00:15:11,110 titled Benin Kings and Rituals: 305 00:15:11,110 --> 00:15:12,320 Court Art from Nigeria, 306 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,640 which opened in Vienna and traveled within Europe and America 307 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:17,603 between 2007 and 2009. 308 00:15:19,060 --> 00:15:21,620 I was invited to write object captions for the catalog 309 00:15:21,620 --> 00:15:24,250 and I attended the opening in Vienna. 310 00:15:24,250 --> 00:15:25,670 The opening of the show in Vienna 311 00:15:25,670 --> 00:15:29,850 was full of pomp and pageantry. Over 300 Benin objects lent 312 00:15:29,850 --> 00:15:33,860 from some museums in Europe and America were on display in 313 00:15:33,860 --> 00:15:36,060 newly renovated museum galleries. 314 00:15:36,060 --> 00:15:38,973 A few in the collection were loaned by the Oba of Benin. 315 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,040 European visitors looked at the works with relish. 316 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,660 Their interest in the artistry and exquisite nature 317 00:15:44,660 --> 00:15:49,660 of the art for the European art connoisseurs contrasted with 318 00:15:51,110 --> 00:15:54,200 the feelings expressed by two brothers of the king of Benin, 319 00:15:54,200 --> 00:15:57,960 His Royal Majesty Prince Edun Akenzua, 320 00:15:57,960 --> 00:15:59,310 the Enogie of Obazuwa, 321 00:15:59,310 --> 00:16:02,510 who remarked that he felt a great sense of nostalgia 322 00:16:02,510 --> 00:16:04,490 looking at the objects together, 323 00:16:04,490 --> 00:16:06,960 which were taken from the back chamber 324 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,860 and palace of his great grandfather Oba Ovonramwen. 325 00:16:10,860 --> 00:16:13,350 The Benin royals were seeing these objects together 326 00:16:13,350 --> 00:16:14,183 for the first time: objects that had been in Europe 327 00:16:14,183 --> 00:16:15,016 for well over a century. 328 00:16:17,330 --> 00:16:18,163 His royal majesty Oba Erediauwa wrote in the 329 00:16:18,163 --> 00:16:18,996 exhibition catalog: 330 00:16:21,177 --> 00:16:24,340 "it is our prayer that the people and the government 331 00:16:24,340 --> 00:16:28,017 of Austria will show humaneness and magnanimity, 332 00:16:28,017 --> 00:16:30,177 and return to us these objects which found 333 00:16:30,177 --> 00:16:32,307 their way to your country." 334 00:16:33,430 --> 00:16:36,990 So I returned to Nigeria from Vienna and Chicago, 335 00:16:36,990 --> 00:16:37,823 to find that there was nothing in the news 336 00:16:37,823 --> 00:16:38,656 being said about this exhibition 337 00:16:38,656 --> 00:16:39,489 that was so well-received in Vienna. 338 00:16:43,330 --> 00:16:46,504 I dedicated my next exhibition solely to Benin. 339 00:16:46,504 --> 00:16:49,740 In 2010, my first solo exhibition in Nigeria, was born. 340 00:16:52,370 --> 00:16:54,700 The press was awash with stories about the history 341 00:16:54,700 --> 00:16:56,291 of the 1897 plundering. 342 00:16:56,291 --> 00:16:59,737 The dot com--like the internet domain name-- 343 00:16:59,737 --> 00:17:03,654 underscores the word commerce in this historical entanglement. 344 00:17:03,654 --> 00:17:06,394 The clamour for resources of the region, 345 00:17:08,010 --> 00:17:11,730 the equation of Benin religious icons and treasures 346 00:17:11,730 --> 00:17:13,810 to mere commodities used to offset 347 00:17:13,810 --> 00:17:15,417 the cost of an expedition 348 00:17:15,417 --> 00:17:19,720 and the sale of looted Benin works at art auctions and fairs. 349 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:22,664 So in what can be referred to as a clandestine shift, 350 00:17:22,664 --> 00:17:24,488 the heirloom of Benin royal family 351 00:17:24,488 --> 00:17:27,592 become the heirloom of British soldiers. 352 00:17:27,592 --> 00:17:30,760 Looted art in the custody of the descendants 353 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:31,624 of the British soldiers 354 00:17:31,624 --> 00:17:34,570 showed up at auctions, attracting huge amounts. 355 00:17:34,570 --> 00:17:39,090 As recent as 2010 a Benin pendant mask was offered for sale 356 00:17:39,090 --> 00:17:41,880 at an auction by descendants of Harry Galway, 357 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:42,713 who was a high-ranking officer with 358 00:17:42,713 --> 00:17:43,546 the colonial administration and protectorate. 359 00:17:43,546 --> 00:17:46,787 The pendant was was estimated at between 360 00:17:48,030 --> 00:17:50,120 3 to 4.5 million pounds. 361 00:17:50,120 --> 00:17:52,180 And this proposed sale aroused a storm of protests 362 00:17:52,180 --> 00:17:54,270 from Nigerians and four days later, 363 00:17:54,270 --> 00:17:55,323 the sale of the work was cancelled. 364 00:17:59,290 --> 00:18:01,930 So only one of the descendants of a soldier, 365 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:05,400 Adrian Walker, has done a thing of honour 366 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:07,333 by returning the looted works that he inherited 367 00:18:07,333 --> 00:18:10,420 from his grandfather, Captain Sutherland Walker, 368 00:18:10,420 --> 00:18:13,300 who was a spy attached to the force. 369 00:18:13,300 --> 00:18:14,840 He returned two brass sculptures-- 370 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,350 an idiophone and a gong to His Royal Majesty Oba Erediauwa II 371 00:18:20,818 --> 00:18:23,490 in the Benin the palace in 2014. 372 00:18:23,490 --> 00:18:25,220 There was a huge celebration on that day. 373 00:18:25,220 --> 00:18:28,960 The king in turn gave Walker and his guests 374 00:18:31,610 --> 00:18:35,470 large and valued brass sculptures as gifts. 375 00:18:35,470 --> 00:18:38,750 Adrian also gave a copy of his grandfather's diary 376 00:18:38,750 --> 00:18:40,870 to the king, where his grandfather 377 00:18:40,870 --> 00:18:43,060 had written the word 'loot' several 378 00:18:43,060 --> 00:18:46,553 times in describing the works he kept for himself. 379 00:18:49,420 --> 00:18:51,840 Adrian Walker was concerned about how the true owners 380 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:54,900 of the work felt if he himself coveted them so much, 381 00:18:54,900 --> 00:18:58,310 and that he did not want to be known as the son of a looter. 382 00:18:58,310 --> 00:19:00,470 And so he felt he had to return the works 383 00:19:00,470 --> 00:19:03,317 his grandfather took to the very place where the crime 384 00:19:03,317 --> 00:19:05,240 had been committed. 385 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,840 He predicted that many more Benin objects 386 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:09,160 would be returned to Nigeria. 387 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:11,980 Seven years down the line, after several 388 00:19:11,980 --> 00:19:13,980 decades of requests for these artifacts, 389 00:19:14,984 --> 00:19:18,393 we have only just begun starting to see positive results. 390 00:19:19,950 --> 00:19:23,253 So we go back in time to 2010. 391 00:19:26,350 --> 00:19:31,110 The catalog of Benin1897 show had nine articles. 392 00:19:31,110 --> 00:19:33,780 For me, it was important to have African scholars 393 00:19:33,780 --> 00:19:37,590 write about their own history and tell their own stories. 394 00:19:37,590 --> 00:19:39,860 For very long as Africans, 395 00:19:39,860 --> 00:19:43,480 we have been written about, described in derogatory terms, 396 00:19:43,480 --> 00:19:46,780 and decisions made without recourse to us. 397 00:19:46,780 --> 00:19:49,390 This text remains an important addition to the discussion 398 00:19:49,390 --> 00:19:52,453 on restitution and the accompanying catalog, 399 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:56,190 it became the accompanying catalog 400 00:19:56,190 --> 00:19:58,140 to the first exhibition in Nigeria dedicated, 401 00:19:58,140 --> 00:20:00,290 to this traumatic history. 402 00:20:00,290 --> 00:20:03,660 The foreward was written by His Majesty, Oba Erediauwa, 403 00:20:03,660 --> 00:20:07,160 and it contains appendices showing several letters 404 00:20:08,010 --> 00:20:10,710 of request for Benin objects. 405 00:20:10,710 --> 00:20:11,543 Yet it is hardly referenced in 406 00:20:11,543 --> 00:20:14,043 new publications that dwell on the topic. 407 00:20:16,750 --> 00:20:20,620 More interesting is that even the over 300 articles written 408 00:20:20,620 --> 00:20:23,900 by Kwame Opoku, a renowned writer 409 00:20:23,900 --> 00:20:25,800 on restitution matters 410 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,333 as it relates to Benin is also sidelined. 411 00:20:29,700 --> 00:20:32,640 Opoku remains a very important voice on restitution 412 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:34,387 with valuable contributions in the field 413 00:20:34,387 --> 00:20:37,860 and also contributed an article to this forum. 414 00:20:37,860 --> 00:20:41,423 So we take a look at some of the objects in the exhibition. 415 00:20:44,548 --> 00:20:48,203 1897.com, which is the title piece of the exhibition 416 00:20:48,203 --> 00:20:50,980 comprises a thousand terracotta heads 417 00:20:50,980 --> 00:20:52,070 placed in a similar way 418 00:20:52,070 --> 00:20:54,950 in which the solders found the artifacts when they got there 419 00:20:54,950 --> 00:20:56,430 in the palace. 420 00:20:56,430 --> 00:21:00,450 And here we see a number of works that were taken 421 00:21:00,450 --> 00:21:03,650 where I estimated to be between three to 4,000 works. 422 00:21:03,650 --> 00:21:06,317 But recently Dan Hicks places the numbers of 10,000. 423 00:21:09,256 --> 00:21:10,150 And for a long time, 424 00:21:10,150 --> 00:21:12,950 there was no disclosure by museums on the number 425 00:21:12,950 --> 00:21:15,690 of their holdings. Many of these works were kept 426 00:21:15,690 --> 00:21:18,570 in storage and only a small fraction were displayed. 427 00:21:18,570 --> 00:21:22,050 These heads were important to the sustenance of the clan. 428 00:21:22,050 --> 00:21:26,040 Each king raised an altar in veneration of the past king, 429 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:27,890 and they were known as Uhuwunelao, 430 00:21:27,890 --> 00:21:29,560 and they were placed on the altar. 431 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:30,665 And there was several of these altars in the king's palace. 432 00:21:30,665 --> 00:21:35,665 Indeed the Oba was referred to as Oba N'Uhunwun n'okhua, 433 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,130 meaning Oba the big head as a reference, 434 00:21:40,130 --> 00:21:42,190 not to the physical size of his head, 435 00:21:42,190 --> 00:21:43,023 but to his overwhelming presence as the spiritual, 436 00:21:43,023 --> 00:21:43,856 religious, and political head of the Edo people. 437 00:21:49,064 --> 00:21:49,970 The British desecrated 438 00:21:49,970 --> 00:21:54,050 these altars by yanking off the memorial heads 439 00:21:54,050 --> 00:21:55,640 from their initial location. 440 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:56,473 And if we listen to the recent speech delivered by 441 00:21:56,473 --> 00:21:57,306 Prince Aghatise Erediauwa 442 00:21:59,528 --> 00:22:02,853 in Cambridge, he referred to how the soldiers 443 00:22:02,853 --> 00:22:05,460 must have gone into the inner recesses of the King's palace 444 00:22:05,460 --> 00:22:08,580 to pick the Cock from the altar. 445 00:22:08,580 --> 00:22:10,970 This altars were memorial sites, where the history 446 00:22:10,970 --> 00:22:15,710 of the lineage was recounted and recited in veneration 447 00:22:15,710 --> 00:22:17,640 of the past kings. 448 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,680 The original looted heads were made of brass, 449 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,390 while those in this installation, were made of laterite, 450 00:22:22,390 --> 00:22:25,353 which was the same material used to make an altar plates. 451 00:22:26,940 --> 00:22:27,773 The installation also makes reference to the burning 452 00:22:27,773 --> 00:22:28,606 of Benin and its environs and the inferno that engulfed 453 00:22:35,450 --> 00:22:37,020 the palace. Yesterday, 454 00:22:37,020 --> 00:22:41,150 Dan showed an unfamiliar image of the fire set 455 00:22:41,150 --> 00:22:43,570 by British forces as they invaded the palace. 456 00:22:43,570 --> 00:22:46,160 So when requests are made for Benin objects, 457 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,530 there's hardly any reference to the treasures 458 00:22:48,530 --> 00:22:50,377 that were destroyed in this fire. 459 00:22:50,377 --> 00:22:53,860 And some of the looted ivories still bear the mark of the fire. 460 00:22:53,860 --> 00:22:56,750 So here I am introducing oxides also as a design effect 461 00:22:56,750 --> 00:22:58,830 to create variations with coloration 462 00:22:58,830 --> 00:23:00,203 of the heads in the display. 463 00:23:03,420 --> 00:23:07,440 Another work, titled Theatre of War, was an interaction 464 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,530 with the plates bear the texts scripted in the diaries 465 00:23:09,530 --> 00:23:11,530 kept by the British soldiers. 466 00:23:11,530 --> 00:23:13,770 It shows the dates and activities from the time 467 00:23:13,770 --> 00:23:16,720 of the buildup to the attack on Benin, 468 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,860 the number of ammunitions expended, the number of villages, 469 00:23:19,860 --> 00:23:23,700 razed down, bones, the commands that went to and from the 470 00:23:23,700 --> 00:23:27,610 foreign office. Benin was rich and still rich in resources. 471 00:23:27,610 --> 00:23:32,047 It had gum copal, gum arabic, palm kernel, palm oil, rubber, etc. 472 00:23:32,047 --> 00:23:32,980 And as a child, 473 00:23:32,980 --> 00:23:36,540 I remember rubber seeds formed part of our toys. 474 00:23:36,540 --> 00:23:41,540 British soldiers were busy taking samples of exotic plants 475 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:43,330 and minerals in region, 476 00:23:43,330 --> 00:23:45,650 even while they attacked Benin. 477 00:23:45,650 --> 00:23:47,690 Indeed, it was a Theatre of War. 478 00:23:47,690 --> 00:23:50,530 All the intrigue by the British, playing up cultures and people 479 00:23:50,530 --> 00:23:53,150 against each other to tell on the Benin side are 480 00:23:53,150 --> 00:23:56,700 also documented in this piece. The soldiers lamented 481 00:23:56,700 --> 00:23:58,880 the burning of palm trees in the inferno that engulfed the city. 482 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:02,920 Palm oil was valuable to them, 483 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,943 it was used as a lubricant for the factories in Europe. 484 00:24:08,264 --> 00:24:10,710 The Theatre of War also showed a number of casualties, 485 00:24:10,710 --> 00:24:14,550 mostly casualties, mostly on the British side. 486 00:24:14,550 --> 00:24:15,560 In British museums 487 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,150 we learned that children and women were bathing in stream 488 00:24:19,150 --> 00:24:22,370 completely oblivious of the bombardment that was to follow. 489 00:24:22,370 --> 00:24:26,680 Hicks describes the use of force as "ultraviolence," 490 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,540 the use of the Maxim gun and rocket launchers 491 00:24:29,540 --> 00:24:33,050 were used to mow down anything and everything in their path. 492 00:24:33,050 --> 00:24:36,140 It is reported that the British soldiers opened fire 493 00:24:36,140 --> 00:24:38,450 on the Benin defenders, who fell 494 00:24:38,450 --> 00:24:40,550 like nuts from the top of trees. 495 00:24:40,550 --> 00:24:43,033 And this is a context of the removal of Benin bronzes. 496 00:24:46,860 --> 00:24:51,213 So that is Theatre of War, also as a satire, 497 00:24:52,540 --> 00:24:56,333 and then the next one is the work titled Long Live the King. 498 00:24:57,270 --> 00:24:58,820 I also tried to introduce a new format 499 00:24:58,820 --> 00:25:01,390 of commemoration using gourds, 500 00:25:01,390 --> 00:25:03,670 which are usually receptacles 501 00:25:03,670 --> 00:25:06,920 for keeping sacrifices in worship. 502 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,490 Each gourd here, represents a year since the expedition. 503 00:25:10,490 --> 00:25:14,840 and they are 113 gourds and each gourd have symbols associated 504 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,020 with particular kings in Benin. For example, 505 00:25:17,020 --> 00:25:21,350 Oba Ohen represented with mudfish legs and the designs 506 00:25:21,350 --> 00:25:24,254 on the 1978 commemorative cloth designed by my mother, 507 00:25:24,254 --> 00:25:27,654 Princess Elizabeth Olowu, for her father's funeral, 508 00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:31,130 Oba Akenzua II in 1978. 509 00:25:31,130 --> 00:25:35,120 So I replicated the pattern on the commemorative cloth 510 00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:40,120 on the gourd in this honor and in this cloth, 511 00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:44,180 the cloth, which is on the bottom here, bottom slide 512 00:25:44,180 --> 00:25:47,200 shows the image of the king Oba Akenzua holding 513 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,440 to his heart, the returned items of regalia, 514 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:52,213 that were taken from Oba Ovonramwen and returned to him in 1937. 515 00:25:56,750 --> 00:25:58,900 So all the calabashes had designs on them, 516 00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:00,220 except 17 of them, 517 00:26:00,220 --> 00:26:03,720 which are appeared plain, signifying the period of interregnum. 518 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,890 For 17 years after the king was deposed, 519 00:26:06,890 --> 00:26:09,570 there was a lot of instability in the kingdom and Benin 520 00:26:09,570 --> 00:26:12,723 was without a king until Oba Akenzua, Oba Eweka II, 521 00:26:14,230 --> 00:26:15,543 the first son of Oba Ovonramwen, who ascended the 522 00:26:15,543 --> 00:26:16,501 throne in 1914. 523 00:26:16,501 --> 00:26:19,518 Minne Atairu, whose work Vicki drew my attention to, 524 00:26:24,010 --> 00:26:26,560 is an artist doing interesting work on Benin. 525 00:26:26,560 --> 00:26:29,830 She looks at this period of interregnum using augmented 526 00:26:29,830 --> 00:26:32,130 reality and 3D-printed sculptures 527 00:26:32,130 --> 00:26:34,430 "to reimagine an absence" 528 00:26:34,430 --> 00:26:37,453 Or what has not been captured or documented in history, 529 00:26:38,380 --> 00:26:39,750 Atairu challenges the dominant 530 00:26:39,750 --> 00:26:43,060 and overt reference to kingship and royalty 531 00:26:43,060 --> 00:26:47,600 and inserts herself in the "margins of palace traditions," 532 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:50,520 representing common and ordinary people. 533 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:54,200 However, her themes seem to agree with Princess Olowu's 534 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,910 choices on femininity, motherhood, and infancy, 535 00:26:57,910 --> 00:27:00,043 even though the latter is of royal blood. 536 00:27:03,510 --> 00:27:06,590 Chequered History exemplified the fragmentation 537 00:27:06,590 --> 00:27:08,857 of history occasioned by the expedition. 538 00:27:08,857 --> 00:27:12,270 The work draws on some textures found on Benin brass 539 00:27:12,270 --> 00:27:17,270 plates and the tiles are arranged in chequered fashion 540 00:27:17,420 --> 00:27:19,570 in squares like a chess board. 541 00:27:19,570 --> 00:27:23,410 Africa became the playground for world powers. In terms 542 00:27:23,410 --> 00:27:24,243 of the concept, it is very similar to the work of 543 00:27:24,243 --> 00:27:25,384 British-based artist Yinka Sonibare, 544 00:27:25,384 --> 00:27:28,744 whose work titled, The Scramble for Africa, depicts 545 00:27:28,744 --> 00:27:33,680 a number of men, sitting at a table with a map of Africa 546 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,340 spread before them as they apportion parts of the continent 547 00:27:37,340 --> 00:27:40,440 to themselves during the 1884-1885 Berlin Conference. 548 00:27:43,336 --> 00:27:45,740 So it also refers to the dispersal of Benin objects, 549 00:27:45,740 --> 00:27:46,573 no one collection in Europe or America 550 00:27:46,573 --> 00:27:47,406 can be said to be a complete whole. 551 00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:57,030 So I take us to the Whose Centenary? project during 2014, 552 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,010 I decided to vent my project and give an opportunity 553 00:28:01,010 --> 00:28:04,210 to all the artists to lend ideas to a new project. 554 00:28:04,210 --> 00:28:07,840 And this was a public art project focused 555 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:10,600 on the centenary of the amalgamation of the Southern 556 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,150 and Northern protectorate of Nigeria. 557 00:28:13,150 --> 00:28:15,680 So the project picks on a different register of history-- 558 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:16,930 to commemorate the passing 559 00:28:16,930 --> 00:28:20,317 of Oba Ovonramwen, who was exiled to Calabar in 1897 560 00:28:21,576 --> 00:28:24,616 and his eventual passing in 1914. 561 00:28:24,616 --> 00:28:29,210 So it's about celebrating the history of colonization 562 00:28:29,210 --> 00:28:32,610 and also the history of the amalgamation of Northern 563 00:28:32,610 --> 00:28:35,800 and Southern protectorate. We position ourselves as artists to celebrate 564 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:37,600 the life of this king 565 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,324 that stood against the British imperialism. 566 00:28:40,324 --> 00:28:44,296 And so we had 10 artists invited, 567 00:28:44,296 --> 00:28:46,650 and the artists are listed on the slides 568 00:28:46,650 --> 00:28:49,393 and we decided to move to Igun Street, 569 00:28:50,830 --> 00:28:54,280 the home and ateliers of the guild of bronze casters, 570 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,780 who are also the protectors who propagated 571 00:29:02,344 --> 00:29:06,040 the tradition of bronze casting for several centuries. 572 00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:07,730 So we had outdoors installations, 573 00:29:07,730 --> 00:29:11,393 we have performances along Igun Street, 574 00:29:14,390 --> 00:29:16,440 and these are the processions, 575 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,760 we moved from the Akenzua quarters 576 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:21,945 along Airport Road to the palace of the king. 577 00:29:21,945 --> 00:29:25,224 And through the Ring Road to Igun Street. 578 00:29:25,224 --> 00:29:28,074 I have quite a number of performances, singing of 579 00:29:28,074 --> 00:29:31,357 praise songs of the king, singing of songs from Benin. 580 00:29:32,370 --> 00:29:36,810 And we had a poet who also performed a poem titled 581 00:29:38,060 --> 00:29:42,760 No Answer, Jumoke Verrissimmo at Igun Street. 582 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,460 We had an official Igun Street performance 583 00:29:45,460 --> 00:29:47,053 with Elizabeth Olowu. 584 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,792 And we had Victor Ehikhamenor, who did some paintings 585 00:29:51,792 --> 00:29:53,933 in the palace of the Ine n'iguneronwon, 586 00:29:53,933 --> 00:29:56,537 head of the guild of the casters 587 00:29:56,537 --> 00:29:59,320 and Jelili Atiku, a renowned performance artist in Nigeria 588 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,652 whose topic of performance 589 00:30:01,652 --> 00:30:03,982 in honor of Oba Ovonramwen, 590 00:30:04,950 --> 00:30:07,263 titled Holy Ovonramwen Cathedral. 591 00:30:08,170 --> 00:30:11,680 And so what it did was basically to discard the Christian 592 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,824 iconography and it picked up some of the bronze works, 593 00:30:14,824 --> 00:30:15,976 particularly the idiophone, 594 00:30:15,976 --> 00:30:18,860 which was very popular at the time because of the return 595 00:30:18,860 --> 00:30:20,300 by Adrian Walker. 596 00:30:20,300 --> 00:30:22,007 Remember that this was the same year. 597 00:30:22,007 --> 00:30:23,480 It was in December. 598 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:26,160 Adrian had brought this much earlier in the year. 599 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:29,300 And so he used this as the iconography, 600 00:30:29,300 --> 00:30:33,210 the symbols of his worship. 601 00:30:33,210 --> 00:30:34,890 And so he went along the streets, 602 00:30:34,890 --> 00:30:37,420 inviting people to come to the crusading. 603 00:30:37,420 --> 00:30:39,670 which was going to start at about two o'clock 604 00:30:39,670 --> 00:30:40,940 on a plot of land 605 00:30:40,940 --> 00:30:43,730 that's doubled as a crusade ground, ground 606 00:30:43,730 --> 00:30:45,280 for Christian churches, 607 00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,460 and also a place where the metal casters 608 00:30:48,460 --> 00:30:50,440 also pour their metal. 609 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:52,460 And so he had this performance 610 00:30:52,460 --> 00:30:56,370 You can see my mother at the exchange end there, wearing 611 00:30:56,370 --> 00:30:59,830 her white garment, with a light white wrapper. 612 00:30:59,830 --> 00:31:01,333 And she was very excited about this performance, 613 00:31:01,333 --> 00:31:05,190 but she was actually telling Jelili to move to Holy Aruosa Church, 614 00:31:05,190 --> 00:31:08,520 which was a church that was founded in the 15th century, 615 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,290 which is not too far off from the Igun streets. 616 00:31:11,290 --> 00:31:13,050 And so he put the [Unknown], 617 00:31:13,050 --> 00:31:15,410 which was regarded as a fetish object, in the middle 618 00:31:15,410 --> 00:31:20,070 of the composition here, we have the pamphlets, 619 00:31:20,070 --> 00:31:24,520 his, the sermon that he was gonna preach 620 00:31:25,940 --> 00:31:28,950 during the service. 621 00:31:28,950 --> 00:31:33,950 And then he took colors of the bronze for the outfits 622 00:31:34,930 --> 00:31:37,910 that members of the church wore. 623 00:31:37,910 --> 00:31:39,630 We also have Burns Effiom, 624 00:31:39,630 --> 00:31:44,077 who is an artist and designer in Lagos, 625 00:31:44,077 --> 00:31:47,752 but he came not merely as an artist 626 00:31:47,752 --> 00:31:50,070 but to perform a role. 627 00:31:50,070 --> 00:31:51,750 He belongs to the family that took care 628 00:31:51,750 --> 00:31:53,550 of Oba Ovonramwen in Calabar. 629 00:31:53,550 --> 00:31:55,850 And so he came all the way from Calabar 630 00:31:55,850 --> 00:31:57,540 to play this very vital role 631 00:31:57,540 --> 00:32:00,770 He took the umbrella as a symbol of nurture 632 00:32:00,770 --> 00:32:05,130 and from the umbrella, he tied pictures of the houses 633 00:32:05,130 --> 00:32:07,240 where Oba Ovonramwen had lived in Calabar 634 00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:10,720 and stood there on the streets feeling very accomplished 635 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,520 that his family members took care of the king 636 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:14,850 when he was exiled. 637 00:32:16,793 --> 00:32:21,470 Wura also performed at the beginning of Igun Street, 638 00:32:21,470 --> 00:32:23,720 Queen Sweep, she titles her performance 639 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:27,120 Sweeping the Detritus of Colonialism 640 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,640 and Sweeping the Streets of Benin. 641 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:32,820 Wearing a stylized Benin head, when she moved her head, 642 00:32:32,820 --> 00:32:34,037 she was being photographed at the same time 643 00:32:34,037 --> 00:32:36,580 she had a camera on her chest 644 00:32:36,580 --> 00:32:39,480 and she was also photographing those who were watching her. 645 00:32:41,740 --> 00:32:45,430 So I shared this space with Victor Ehikhamenor 646 00:32:45,430 --> 00:32:49,704 and we also had two photographers Andrew Esebo 647 00:32:49,704 --> 00:32:52,270 and Ines Valle, who's from Portugal 648 00:32:52,270 --> 00:32:55,380 who looked at the archives, took a photograph from 1974 649 00:32:56,488 --> 00:32:59,338 and the photograph that was taken in 2004 and put them side 650 00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:02,400 by side of the same house and actually found 651 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:06,600 some of the habitat of the house in the photograph, 652 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:08,130 which they put together here. 653 00:33:10,056 --> 00:33:13,960 We also have images of paintings by Taiye Idahor, 654 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:18,960 who's very interested in the hair coiffure of women and the beads 655 00:33:19,270 --> 00:33:23,240 We had an installation video installed in the atelier, 656 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:27,110 of one of the casters, with work done by Jude Anogwih, 657 00:33:27,110 --> 00:33:28,662 which is titled Emittere. 658 00:33:28,662 --> 00:33:30,999 It had the waves moving in opposite direction, 659 00:33:30,999 --> 00:33:33,107 moving in one direction and reverse the waves. 660 00:33:33,107 --> 00:33:35,972 Because again, it looked at the concept of bringing 661 00:33:35,972 --> 00:33:38,290 in the treasures and also taking away 662 00:33:38,290 --> 00:33:39,893 treasures by sea. 663 00:33:41,910 --> 00:33:46,910 And it was important for me to bring the installation back 664 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:48,840 to Benin. 665 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:53,070 So this was 1897.com installation, 666 00:33:53,070 --> 00:33:55,624 which had been shown in Lagos and Benin and Ibadan 667 00:33:55,624 --> 00:33:59,990 but for me, it was very interesting to take this works 668 00:33:59,990 --> 00:34:02,320 to Benin and I have always was imagined, 669 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,230 that the heads would be brought back 670 00:34:04,230 --> 00:34:07,170 and put against this very rustic space, 671 00:34:07,170 --> 00:34:09,103 with the background of the palace walls. 672 00:34:10,312 --> 00:34:15,312 And so for me, it was therapeutic, not only for me, 673 00:34:15,650 --> 00:34:17,540 but for the others who were spectators, 674 00:34:17,540 --> 00:34:20,690 spectators, who were also actors in this space now 675 00:34:20,690 --> 00:34:24,270 yet coming out history that was worthy of celebration. 676 00:34:24,270 --> 00:34:27,120 Here lies a true essence of the African museum. 677 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,780 The seamless boundary between what is viewed, 678 00:34:29,780 --> 00:34:32,392 what is an a level of engagement, 679 00:34:32,392 --> 00:34:34,450 the level of participation and the connections 680 00:34:34,450 --> 00:34:36,840 to share tangible heritage. 681 00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:41,210 So I invited the bronze casters to bring in their bronzes 682 00:34:41,210 --> 00:34:44,480 and they actually applied to be and put their sculptures 683 00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,010 within the terracotta heads. 684 00:34:47,010 --> 00:34:49,700 And this was a very novel idea. 685 00:34:49,700 --> 00:34:51,550 This was a very interesting collaboration 686 00:34:51,550 --> 00:34:53,890 between the casters, who are schooled in 687 00:34:53,890 --> 00:34:56,050 a particular canon of representation 688 00:34:56,050 --> 00:34:57,660 and the academically trained artists 689 00:34:57,660 --> 00:34:59,313 who were invited on this project. 690 00:35:00,950 --> 00:35:05,610 So the shrine of family histories and experiences, 691 00:35:05,610 --> 00:35:09,120 which these objects, performances, songs generated 692 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:13,470 in this iteration left a lasting impression in Igun. 693 00:35:15,010 --> 00:35:19,320 So go on to some of the slides of the installation. 694 00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:24,927 Also with the bronze works in the composition. 695 00:35:24,927 --> 00:35:28,030 And here again you find the Cock. 696 00:35:28,030 --> 00:35:29,313 This is 2014. 697 00:35:32,380 --> 00:35:36,930 And in 2018, I had a sort of exhibition 698 00:35:36,930 --> 00:35:38,920 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, 699 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:40,220 which was titled Return. 700 00:35:40,220 --> 00:35:43,300 I was also thinking about this idea of return. 701 00:35:43,300 --> 00:35:48,300 And I had works that were shown in this exhibition, 702 00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:52,260 that don't only focus on Benin, but also to show 703 00:35:52,260 --> 00:35:55,100 that the whole of Africa 704 00:35:55,100 --> 00:35:58,920 there was widespread looting that went on. 705 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:01,010 And one of the works there was titled 706 00:36:01,010 --> 00:36:03,410 Dialoguing Sarah, with four piece work, 707 00:36:03,410 --> 00:36:07,000 which puts the Benin story in a wider context 708 00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:10,330 of expropriation with reference to the Ashanti region 709 00:36:10,330 --> 00:36:13,130 of Ghana, which was stripped of its gold treasures. 710 00:36:13,130 --> 00:36:16,850 And Ethiopian religious symbols and manuscripts 711 00:36:16,850 --> 00:36:20,160 taken during the battle of Magdala and all of this formed 712 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:21,923 part of the iconography. 713 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:25,803 So in a broader sense, 714 00:36:25,803 --> 00:36:29,265 we also looked at how African people have been denigrated. 715 00:36:29,265 --> 00:36:30,889 And it's also implied in this work with the depiction 716 00:36:30,889 --> 00:36:35,389 of Sarah Baartman on the metal panels and the complicated histories 717 00:36:37,100 --> 00:36:38,523 of bones, the artifacts. 718 00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:42,980 And so in three out of the four panels, 719 00:36:42,980 --> 00:36:44,930 you will find an image of Sarah Baartman. 720 00:36:45,890 --> 00:36:49,560 Whose demonized remains were repatriated to Hankey 721 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:51,543 in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. 722 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:57,610 So I turn it over to the other artists who 723 00:36:57,610 --> 00:37:01,590 have been engaged in this whole issue 724 00:37:01,590 --> 00:37:06,120 of the plunder of Benin objects. And in 2006, 725 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:09,850 Wole Soyinka writes in his memoirs, You Must Set Forth at Dawn about 726 00:37:09,850 --> 00:37:14,850 his personal attempt to reclaim some of Nigeria's looted objects in the mid 1970s. 727 00:37:15,272 --> 00:37:18,740 In 1977, Edu Ebuma produced a film, The Mask, 728 00:37:18,740 --> 00:37:20,180 which premiered in Lagos. 729 00:37:20,180 --> 00:37:23,500 It was a response to the loan request by the Nigerian government, 730 00:37:23,500 --> 00:37:26,660 for the 16th-century ivory mask representing 731 00:37:26,660 --> 00:37:30,270 the Queen Mother, "Iyoba niyesigie' in the British Museum, 732 00:37:30,270 --> 00:37:32,840 chosen as a symbol of the Second World 733 00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:36,063 Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture FESTAC. 734 00:37:37,110 --> 00:37:41,180 The British government declined this request on conservation grounds 735 00:37:41,180 --> 00:37:44,210 The mask was shot in a London museum. 736 00:37:44,210 --> 00:37:46,980 The storyline was based on an invasion of the British Museum 737 00:37:46,980 --> 00:37:49,130 to take the popular ivory mask. 738 00:37:49,130 --> 00:37:50,370 In a similar storyline, 739 00:37:50,370 --> 00:37:52,210 Imaseun Lancelot, 740 00:37:52,210 --> 00:37:56,290 an Edo home video filmmaker produced Invasion1897 741 00:37:56,290 --> 00:37:59,610 in 2014. Like Eddie Ugbomah's movie, 742 00:37:59,610 --> 00:38:02,470 both breach the museum security to retrieve 743 00:38:02,470 --> 00:38:04,310 some of the Benin artifacts. 744 00:38:04,310 --> 00:38:05,350 The blockbuster movie, 745 00:38:05,350 --> 00:38:07,300 Black Panther follows the same pattern, 746 00:38:08,350 --> 00:38:09,650 which is similar to local, 747 00:38:11,210 --> 00:38:15,030 less publicized film titled Legend of Idia: 748 00:38:15,030 --> 00:38:17,620 The Call of the Mask, released the year 749 00:38:17,620 --> 00:38:18,850 before Black Panther. 750 00:38:18,850 --> 00:38:22,370 And Dominique Malaquais/ Cedric Vincent actually say, 751 00:38:22,370 --> 00:38:25,970 and I quote, "some of the resemblances between these heist 752 00:38:25,970 --> 00:38:30,727 stories may be a function of borrowing, or even plagiarism". 753 00:38:31,984 --> 00:38:34,820 However, what is important is that these filmmakers express 754 00:38:34,820 --> 00:38:38,700 a yearning desire for repatriation of Benin objects. 755 00:38:38,700 --> 00:38:41,430 While these attempts are in the realm of fiction, 756 00:38:41,430 --> 00:38:44,730 Mwazulu Diyabanza, a Congolese activist, 757 00:38:44,730 --> 00:38:46,170 brings the stories to reality, 758 00:38:46,170 --> 00:38:48,720 by physically invading museum spaces 759 00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:50,740 to remove looted objects, 760 00:38:50,740 --> 00:38:53,384 which he says belong to Africa. 761 00:38:53,384 --> 00:38:55,360 His sentence in the Netherlands did not dissuade him 762 00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,300 from carrying out similar actions in the Louvre 763 00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,000 or Musee du Quai Branly in 2020. 764 00:39:02,130 --> 00:39:04,110 So three historical plays focused 765 00:39:04,110 --> 00:39:06,152 on the British Expedition to Benin 766 00:39:06,152 --> 00:39:08,880 reveal how playwrights choose to memorialize the events 767 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,110 of the past--a past quite different 768 00:39:11,110 --> 00:39:13,230 from the way memory is reenacted through 769 00:39:13,230 --> 00:39:15,097 the recounting of the lineage history 770 00:39:15,097 --> 00:39:16,610 and the immortalization of past kings 771 00:39:16,610 --> 00:39:19,580 through the commissioning of ancestral heads. 772 00:39:19,580 --> 00:39:21,370 That why I have written about this play 773 00:39:21,370 --> 00:39:25,220 in a joint publication titled The Politics of Memory 774 00:39:25,220 --> 00:39:28,008 in a Dramatic Space, Two Distant Views 775 00:39:28,008 --> 00:39:32,740 of Ovonramwen N'Ogbaisi showing the complexities of narrating 776 00:39:32,740 --> 00:39:35,683 the historical play, ladened with emotions. 777 00:39:36,860 --> 00:39:39,368 And one of the plays by Ogieriakhi 778 00:39:39,368 --> 00:39:40,880 actually was published in 1966, 779 00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:44,450 you have 1974 Ola Rotimi Ovonramwen Nogbaisi 780 00:39:44,450 --> 00:39:46,710 and another play by Ahmed Yerima 781 00:39:46,710 --> 00:39:51,010 which was the play that was to written to commemorate 782 00:39:51,010 --> 00:39:53,863 the Centenary year of the event in 1997, 783 00:39:55,048 --> 00:39:58,131 titled the Trials of Oba Ovoranmwen. 784 00:39:59,210 --> 00:40:01,260 So we also have Monday Midnite, 785 00:40:01,260 --> 00:40:03,390 an Edo Belgium-based musician 786 00:40:03,390 --> 00:40:05,280 who did the musical piece titled 1897. 787 00:40:06,408 --> 00:40:07,680 And at the same time I was working 788 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:10,630 on my 1897.com exhibition. 789 00:40:10,630 --> 00:40:13,800 He shot this musical in front of Buckingham Palace, 790 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:15,633 and you can find this on YouTube, 791 00:40:16,810 --> 00:40:18,700 we also have the London-based Nigerian artists, 792 00:40:18,700 --> 00:40:20,920 Leo Asemota whose extensive work on Benin, 793 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:23,760 titled the ENS project, 794 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:26,440 touches on both Benin and British history 795 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,416 in his use of photography, video, performance, 796 00:40:29,416 --> 00:40:30,720 sculpture, and drawing, 797 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:33,240 Asemota examines the kingdom of Benin 798 00:40:33,240 --> 00:40:35,910 and palace rites, such as the annual Igue festival, 799 00:40:35,910 --> 00:40:38,470 where there is prominence paid to the head. 800 00:40:39,528 --> 00:40:42,900 Emeka Ogboh, a sound and installation artist, recently put out 801 00:40:42,900 --> 00:40:46,120 about 200 posters depicting the Benin bronzes in the city of Dresden 802 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,680 to draw attention to the city's role in maintaining 803 00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:51,550 the legacies of colonialism. 804 00:40:51,550 --> 00:40:53,573 This project was supported by the ethnological museum 805 00:40:53,573 --> 00:40:58,573 in Dresden and depicted five works from that collection. 806 00:40:59,100 --> 00:41:01,370 And he claims that, and I quote, 807 00:41:02,547 --> 00:41:06,120 "the project grew out of a sense of impatience 808 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,810 and necessity, aiming to frame the stagnant 809 00:41:08,810 --> 00:41:12,140 and abstract discourse surrounding colonial repatriations, 810 00:41:12,140 --> 00:41:13,940 with urgency and gravity 811 00:41:13,940 --> 00:41:15,787 of the public service announcement". 812 00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:22,277 Ogboh's work comes a few years after the joint exhibition 813 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:26,410 titled Boundary Objects, 814 00:41:26,410 --> 00:41:30,040 and this, the slide here shows Jelili Atiku's Rawson's Boat, 815 00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,157 which he has done several times in Lagos 816 00:41:32,157 --> 00:41:35,633 and also in Bordeuax in France. 817 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:40,808 So Ogboh's work comes a few years after 818 00:41:40,808 --> 00:41:42,700 they joined the exhibition Boundary Objects held 819 00:41:42,700 --> 00:41:46,070 at Kunsthaus Dresden in 2015 and organized 820 00:41:46,070 --> 00:41:49,803 by a Berlin-based activist group, artefakte. 821 00:41:50,660 --> 00:41:52,513 Alongside other artists, such as Sammy Balaji, Penny Siopis, 822 00:41:54,070 --> 00:41:55,590 I showed my work, titled 823 00:41:55,590 --> 00:42:00,590 The Columns of Memory. An extension 824 00:42:00,740 --> 00:42:02,960 of this work is currently in progress, 825 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,400 which is titled Ancestors by Number, 826 00:42:06,240 --> 00:42:08,530 based on the collection at the RJ Museum in Cologne. 827 00:42:08,530 --> 00:42:12,760 When objects move from one location to another, 828 00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:13,593 they acquire different meanings 829 00:42:13,593 --> 00:42:14,426 and in some cases they are reduced to numbers, 830 00:42:17,210 --> 00:42:18,970 numbers that are determined by collectors 831 00:42:18,970 --> 00:42:22,100 and dealers' inventory lists, index cards, 832 00:42:22,100 --> 00:42:25,330 lot numbers at auctions and other forms of numbers, 833 00:42:25,330 --> 00:42:27,613 that absolutely mean nothing to those who own them. 834 00:42:29,020 --> 00:42:29,990 So it's a work in progress, 835 00:42:29,990 --> 00:42:32,840 and hopefully there'll be something to chew upon 836 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:34,120 the life of this objects before 837 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,290 they come under the lights in museum galleries. 838 00:42:37,290 --> 00:42:41,920 So we look at the last part of my presentation, 839 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:46,347 which is the exhibition curated in the RJ museum in Cologne 840 00:42:48,872 --> 00:42:51,400 titled Resist: The Art of Resistance. 841 00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:55,470 And here we have some of the objects 842 00:42:55,470 --> 00:42:59,450 that are in the collection, about 94 objects, 843 00:42:59,450 --> 00:43:02,153 which are acquired within two years of the expedition. 844 00:43:03,720 --> 00:43:06,800 And many of these objects have likely been in storage 845 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:08,200 since they were acquired. 846 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:10,730 Only a few have had visibility and have been shown 847 00:43:10,730 --> 00:43:13,720 at the museums or in other exhibitions. 848 00:43:14,696 --> 00:43:16,810 Rather than have a solo show. 849 00:43:16,810 --> 00:43:20,640 I decided to include some of the artists I had followed 850 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:23,040 over the years since my exhibition in 2010. 851 00:43:24,712 --> 00:43:29,712 And we find some of the works here: the cartoons 852 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:34,950 of Jimoh Ganiyu, Double Standards, and a few other cartoons, 853 00:43:34,950 --> 00:43:37,250 which are inspired by the Benin 1897.com exhibition, 854 00:43:37,250 --> 00:43:39,423 which held in 2010. 855 00:43:40,850 --> 00:43:43,117 So it speaks volumes about today's debate on restitution 856 00:43:43,117 --> 00:43:45,510 and the double standard applied when it comes to dealing 857 00:43:45,510 --> 00:43:47,253 with issues pertaining to Africa. 858 00:43:48,700 --> 00:43:53,300 So we also have other artists like Alao Lukman, 859 00:43:53,300 --> 00:43:57,170 who brings to recognition his own private experiences 860 00:43:57,170 --> 00:43:59,070 and stories about Benin art and culture, 861 00:43:59,070 --> 00:44:02,350 and like older Nigerian artist who have, 862 00:44:02,350 --> 00:44:05,040 always been influenced by Benin art and cultural life 863 00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:07,550 costumes and customs, such as Ben Enwonwu, Bruce Onobrakpeya, 864 00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:11,569 Ben Osawe, and Erhabor Emokpae. 865 00:44:11,569 --> 00:44:13,690 Alao references the Benin plaques 866 00:44:13,690 --> 00:44:16,298 which appears copiously in his works. 867 00:44:18,490 --> 00:44:19,690 His works bring to the fore 868 00:44:19,690 --> 00:44:22,970 the multidimensional aspect of metalworking and a depth of 869 00:44:22,970 --> 00:44:25,810 technical know-how shown by Edo craftsmen 870 00:44:25,810 --> 00:44:27,753 in the understanding of other metal-working 871 00:44:27,753 --> 00:44:31,530 processes beyond the lost wax technique of casting. 872 00:44:34,216 --> 00:44:36,790 Osaze Amadasun's Playing Cards switches the imagery 873 00:44:36,790 --> 00:44:41,000 of Edo--of English Kings and Queens on cards 874 00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:43,250 and replaces them with images of Benin Kings 875 00:44:43,250 --> 00:44:44,800 and the Queen Mother, Iyoba miyesigie. 876 00:44:45,700 --> 00:44:48,490 He playfully leads you into understanding the intricacies 877 00:44:48,490 --> 00:44:51,290 of the Edo culture and celebrates it in style 878 00:44:51,290 --> 00:44:53,560 while making the commentary on Benin 879 00:44:53,560 --> 00:44:55,873 as a playground for colonial powers. 880 00:44:57,768 --> 00:45:00,660 Nwakuso Edozien's delicate line drawings shows a 881 00:45:00,660 --> 00:45:03,047 superimposition of images of Benin classical objects on 882 00:45:03,047 --> 00:45:05,390 the everyday scenes in the city, 883 00:45:05,390 --> 00:45:09,570 showing the past is very much part of the present 884 00:45:09,570 --> 00:45:10,503 and the future. 885 00:45:11,430 --> 00:45:12,440 So in conclusion, 886 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:15,430 I have taken time to discuss the depth of artistic expressions 887 00:45:15,430 --> 00:45:18,350 in various genres to show that Benin art 888 00:45:18,350 --> 00:45:20,030 is very much alive today. 889 00:45:20,030 --> 00:45:23,833 And perhaps as it was pre-1897, 890 00:45:24,950 --> 00:45:27,340 also to show that artists have been very much involved 891 00:45:27,340 --> 00:45:29,797 in the clamor for the return of these objects. 892 00:45:29,797 --> 00:45:32,750 The 2010 exhibition brought about awareness 893 00:45:32,750 --> 00:45:34,400 of the Benin story, 894 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:36,280 it also left the discussion evergreen 895 00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:38,670 and fresh in the minds of people. 896 00:45:38,670 --> 00:45:41,010 When I took elementary school children, 897 00:45:41,010 --> 00:45:42,840 through the exhibition at Ibadan, 898 00:45:42,840 --> 00:45:45,360 they questioned why the Benin objects were left outside 899 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:48,870 of Nigeria, the image of a Benin female head 900 00:45:48,870 --> 00:45:53,090 used as logo by one of the major publishers keeps memory 901 00:45:53,090 --> 00:45:58,090 of Benin art in the minds of these impressionable children. 902 00:45:58,270 --> 00:46:00,830 The absence of the Benin objects have continued 903 00:46:00,830 --> 00:46:03,230 to inspire creative production. 904 00:46:03,230 --> 00:46:08,168 One can only imagine the magnitude and creative impulse 905 00:46:08,168 --> 00:46:10,850 the return of these objects will bring about. 906 00:46:10,850 --> 00:46:13,680 As I conclude, I would like to show one last slide, 907 00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:16,680 which was taken in the second day of our iteration in 908 00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:19,521 the Whose Centenary project. A woman carrying 909 00:46:20,900 --> 00:46:25,860 a child on her back and looking at my installation, 910 00:46:25,860 --> 00:46:27,610 our installation. 911 00:46:27,610 --> 00:46:30,040 The child on a back is oblivious 912 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:32,730 of what his mother is viewing. 913 00:46:32,730 --> 00:46:34,640 As I was told the story of 1897 914 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:36,670 Expedition to Benin as a child, 915 00:46:36,670 --> 00:46:40,490 I wonder what sort of story will be told to this little child 916 00:46:40,490 --> 00:46:42,270 when he grows up. 917 00:46:42,270 --> 00:46:45,288 There's hope that it would be a different narrative 918 00:46:45,288 --> 00:46:49,800 with a growing list of returns to Benin. 919 00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:50,633 Thank you. 920 00:46:56,490 --> 00:46:57,890 - Thank you, am I live? 921 00:46:57,890 --> 00:46:59,930 Yeah, thank you so much. 922 00:46:59,930 --> 00:47:00,880 Thank you so much. 923 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:02,550 That was wonderful. 924 00:47:02,550 --> 00:47:05,000 I'm so grateful to, 925 00:47:05,000 --> 00:47:07,400 I learned about some artists I hadn't known about yet 926 00:47:07,400 --> 00:47:12,400 and to see some images that remind us of the importance 927 00:47:12,820 --> 00:47:17,820 of these ongoing practices for the imagination of futures, 928 00:47:18,030 --> 00:47:19,783 for children, for young people. 929 00:47:21,070 --> 00:47:24,990 So we do have some time to respond to questions. 930 00:47:24,990 --> 00:47:28,623 If anybody has some, please enter them in the chat. 931 00:47:30,940 --> 00:47:33,070 Since there are none at this point, Peju 932 00:47:34,120 --> 00:47:37,350 I'd actually like to ask if you could talk a little bit, 933 00:47:37,350 --> 00:47:40,820 one of the projects I know you work on is to organize 934 00:47:40,820 --> 00:47:44,290 workshops for women in Lagos, 935 00:47:44,290 --> 00:47:49,290 and Ibadan to train them in practices of dyeing 936 00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:52,680 indigo and other kinds of things. 937 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:54,190 And I wonder if you talk about 938 00:47:54,190 --> 00:47:55,730 if those workshops are connected 939 00:47:55,730 --> 00:48:00,660 to the sort of activism that's embedded in your art 940 00:48:00,660 --> 00:48:03,650 exhibitions, like how do you understand the relationship 941 00:48:03,650 --> 00:48:06,783 between those two parts of your practice? 942 00:48:07,930 --> 00:48:10,560 - Okay, thank you very much, Vicki. 943 00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:11,870 Yes, I founded the Women 944 00:48:11,870 --> 00:48:14,160 and Youth Art Foundation in 1994, 945 00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:18,760 and this was in Ibadan when I was newly married. 946 00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,360 And I discovered that there were a lot of women 947 00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:26,360 who were in on the campus, who needed to learn skills, 948 00:48:26,750 --> 00:48:30,570 to have them earn a better living. 949 00:48:30,570 --> 00:48:34,800 And so I decided to record some of these processes 950 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:38,620 of artistic production into videos 951 00:48:38,620 --> 00:48:40,680 so that we could easily disseminate this information 952 00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:43,390 rather than have them come to my own space. 953 00:48:43,390 --> 00:48:47,120 When we had the exhibition in 2010 in Benin, 954 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:49,650 we also incorporated that at Igun Street. 955 00:48:49,650 --> 00:48:54,650 We had young girls and young children take part 956 00:48:54,910 --> 00:48:56,330 in these workshops. 957 00:48:56,330 --> 00:48:59,910 And like I mentioned that the art of bronze casting 958 00:48:59,910 --> 00:49:02,210 is a male preserve, 959 00:49:02,210 --> 00:49:05,510 but we find that the females in each of the households 960 00:49:05,510 --> 00:49:08,050 in Igun Street actually know how to cast, 961 00:49:08,050 --> 00:49:11,368 it's just a cultural or the tradition does not allow them 962 00:49:11,368 --> 00:49:13,440 to smelt metal or cast in bronze. 963 00:49:13,440 --> 00:49:16,390 So I felt that it would be nice for them to learn 964 00:49:16,390 --> 00:49:17,910 other skills as well. 965 00:49:17,910 --> 00:49:20,930 And this was a way of giving back to society 966 00:49:20,930 --> 00:49:23,910 and actually follow through with this. 967 00:49:23,910 --> 00:49:27,953 My mother had been involved in this kind of activism, 968 00:49:29,260 --> 00:49:33,240 this kind of workshops in the old Bendel state, 969 00:49:33,240 --> 00:49:36,710 she was hired by the then Bendel State government 970 00:49:36,710 --> 00:49:40,170 to teach market women in Rupert hall, 971 00:49:40,170 --> 00:49:44,210 which is a town in the city and the teach them other skills 972 00:49:44,210 --> 00:49:46,910 that they could use to make things that they can sell 973 00:49:46,910 --> 00:49:49,150 to augment what are they getting from the market. 974 00:49:49,150 --> 00:49:50,310 And so as a young girl, 975 00:49:50,310 --> 00:49:52,770 I would go with her to the marketplace. 976 00:49:52,770 --> 00:49:56,160 I would teach for the entire day different skills, 977 00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:58,730 recycling, upskilling, and all of that. 978 00:49:58,730 --> 00:50:01,620 And that women were involved. And this 979 00:50:01,620 --> 00:50:05,160 had a lasting impression on these woman 980 00:50:05,160 --> 00:50:08,230 and the youth that were also taught in the city. 981 00:50:08,230 --> 00:50:10,090 - Great, thank you. 982 00:50:10,090 --> 00:50:13,220 So there's a couple questions from Elizabeth. 983 00:50:13,220 --> 00:50:14,870 Excuse me, Elizabeth Lee. 984 00:50:14,870 --> 00:50:17,910 She'd like to know a little bit more about why, culturally, 985 00:50:17,910 --> 00:50:19,960 women were not allowed to work in metal, 986 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:23,170 if you could expand on that a little bit and then to ask, 987 00:50:23,170 --> 00:50:24,630 what is the current status 988 00:50:24,630 --> 00:50:29,630 of the Benin 1897 exhibition or the others? 989 00:50:29,700 --> 00:50:34,010 Can we bring them here to the US? 990 00:50:34,010 --> 00:50:35,560 is that even possible? 991 00:50:35,560 --> 00:50:37,153 What's the traveling plans? 992 00:50:38,130 --> 00:50:40,170 - Okay, cultural explanation of 993 00:50:40,170 --> 00:50:42,953 why women are not allowed to cast in metal: 994 00:50:43,830 --> 00:50:47,720 I would think that the process, being a metal caster myself, 995 00:50:47,720 --> 00:50:50,573 The process of casting in metal is very tedious. 996 00:50:51,660 --> 00:50:55,500 And if you ever, go to Igun Street 997 00:50:55,500 --> 00:50:57,700 to witness the casting process that you'd see 998 00:50:58,568 --> 00:51:01,070 that it's very exhausting for the metal casters. 999 00:51:01,070 --> 00:51:02,870 And I think that's in a sense, 1000 00:51:02,870 --> 00:51:05,400 the culture tries to protect women. 1001 00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:08,770 And sometimes they hemmed in all kinds of taboos 1002 00:51:08,770 --> 00:51:10,700 at the same way, women are experiencing 1003 00:51:10,700 --> 00:51:13,750 their menstrual cycle and, and in the touch, 1004 00:51:13,750 --> 00:51:17,010 any of the tools of the trade, will lead to failures 1005 00:51:17,010 --> 00:51:18,990 in casting and all of that. 1006 00:51:18,990 --> 00:51:20,610 But I think it was actually to protect 1007 00:51:20,610 --> 00:51:23,490 them from the intensity of the heat. 1008 00:51:23,490 --> 00:51:25,010 It's not the same kind of heat that you use for cooking 1009 00:51:25,010 --> 00:51:26,600 your meals at home. 1010 00:51:26,600 --> 00:51:30,480 And usually in traditional societies, 1011 00:51:30,480 --> 00:51:33,330 women were involved in arts and crafts 1012 00:51:33,330 --> 00:51:37,430 that way that they could do within the homestead, 1013 00:51:37,430 --> 00:51:40,030 they could do while taking care of their children 1014 00:51:40,030 --> 00:51:42,504 or taking care of their spouses. 1015 00:51:42,504 --> 00:51:46,638 And you had to go out of the home. 1016 00:51:46,638 --> 00:51:50,113 You had to go to the forge, to the Foundry, 1017 00:51:51,186 --> 00:51:52,370 and it was a man that did that. 1018 00:51:52,370 --> 00:51:55,510 So I think that now having more and more females 1019 00:51:55,510 --> 00:51:59,592 going into casting, it's not an art that's very attractive 1020 00:51:59,592 --> 00:52:02,640 even in the university you find that you don't have so many 1021 00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:05,630 females going into sculpture because it requires 1022 00:52:05,630 --> 00:52:07,000 a lot of physical energy. 1023 00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:09,213 We still find that some of the women are doing that, 1024 00:52:09,213 --> 00:52:11,830 because the thing that is an area to explore 1025 00:52:11,830 --> 00:52:14,540 and that they should not be discriminated against. 1026 00:52:14,540 --> 00:52:18,200 So in terms of the exhibition, traveling to the US, 1027 00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:20,550 I'm very happy to show my works in the US, yeah. 1028 00:52:21,550 --> 00:52:24,640 The only place that the exhibition has gone to beyond Nigeria 1029 00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:27,770 is South Africa, in Rhodes University, 1030 00:52:27,770 --> 00:52:30,530 where we had a few of the heads displayed. 1031 00:52:30,530 --> 00:52:35,530 I had drawings at the RAW gallery in Grahamstown. 1032 00:52:36,140 --> 00:52:40,650 So it's an installation that is ready to travel. 1033 00:52:40,650 --> 00:52:41,690 - That's wonderful. 1034 00:52:41,690 --> 00:52:45,180 And I think one of the things that the organizers 1035 00:52:45,180 --> 00:52:46,550 of this event would like to stress 1036 00:52:46,550 --> 00:52:49,950 is the need for museums in the US, 1037 00:52:49,950 --> 00:52:52,710 especially those who have benefited from holding objects, 1038 00:52:52,710 --> 00:52:55,450 that were looted from African communities on the continent 1039 00:52:55,450 --> 00:52:58,920 to engage with contemporary artists 1040 00:52:58,920 --> 00:53:00,313 working on the continent, 1041 00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:04,930 so that--both providing them with material recompense 1042 00:53:04,930 --> 00:53:06,230 for their artwork, 1043 00:53:06,230 --> 00:53:10,140 as well as allowing them to engage with the works 1044 00:53:10,140 --> 00:53:12,250 that are here and advocate for return. 1045 00:53:12,250 --> 00:53:13,123 So thank you. 1046 00:53:15,140 --> 00:53:17,450 Please feel free to put your questions in the chat 1047 00:53:17,450 --> 00:53:21,183 or your comments for Professor Layiwola. 1048 00:53:23,570 --> 00:53:25,070 Are there any other questions? 1049 00:53:31,030 --> 00:53:33,470 The question is what have been some of the responses 1050 00:53:33,470 --> 00:53:38,050 of young adults to your repatriation and restitution work? 1051 00:53:38,050 --> 00:53:40,600 And I'm guessing they mean young adults in Nigeria. 1052 00:53:41,910 --> 00:53:42,743 - Yeah, young adults in Nigeria, 1053 00:53:42,743 --> 00:53:45,680 I also give an example of some of my students 1054 00:53:45,680 --> 00:53:47,420 who are doing projects that were inspired 1055 00:53:47,420 --> 00:53:49,490 by my own exhibition. 1056 00:53:49,490 --> 00:53:52,232 The cartoons I showed were done by Jimoh Ganiyu 1057 00:53:53,990 --> 00:53:56,910 He was inspired to read the history of the Benin, 1058 00:53:56,910 --> 00:54:00,360 to read about all the arguments that were going against 1059 00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:03,750 the repatriation of Benin objects to Nigeria. 1060 00:54:03,750 --> 00:54:05,960 And this inspired his work tremendously. 1061 00:54:05,960 --> 00:54:08,750 And also the works that I showed of young artists 1062 00:54:08,750 --> 00:54:11,850 who are showing in at the moment in the exhibition, 1063 00:54:11,850 --> 00:54:15,110 which closes next year in January. 1064 00:54:15,110 --> 00:54:17,750 These are all ways in which younger people 1065 00:54:17,750 --> 00:54:20,490 are also contributing to this dialogue. 1066 00:54:20,490 --> 00:54:23,090 So it's really very vibrant people interested in sale, 1067 00:54:23,090 --> 00:54:28,080 and also the home video industry films, 1068 00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:31,463 other forms of new media, I would imagine from, 1069 00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:35,016 been inspired by Benin objects, 1070 00:54:35,016 --> 00:54:36,307 by Benin art, by Benin culture. 1071 00:54:36,307 --> 00:54:38,763 And I think it's an ongoing process. 1072 00:54:42,450 --> 00:54:45,530 - I'm wondering if you could say a little bit more 1073 00:54:45,530 --> 00:54:50,530 about how the current Oba plans to--so as objects start 1074 00:54:51,870 --> 00:54:54,210 to become returned, which, 1075 00:54:54,210 --> 00:54:56,543 last week we saw that the objects returned, 1076 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:02,220 does the current Oba have plans to encourage ongoing 1077 00:55:02,220 --> 00:55:05,270 artistic production amongst young people 1078 00:55:05,270 --> 00:55:08,090 to allow them access to some of these objects 1079 00:55:08,090 --> 00:55:10,070 that have been returned so that they can use them 1080 00:55:10,070 --> 00:55:12,093 for their own inspiration, perhaps? 1081 00:55:14,620 --> 00:55:18,500 How does the palace fit into these larger questions 1082 00:55:18,500 --> 00:55:21,670 other than they are the descendants 1083 00:55:21,670 --> 00:55:23,250 of the original owners of the objects 1084 00:55:23,250 --> 00:55:24,850 to whom they should be returned. 1085 00:55:26,210 --> 00:55:28,500 - Well, I can't speak for the king, what I will say, 1086 00:55:28,500 --> 00:55:30,880 that's going by what he has done in the past, 1087 00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:33,830 I can say very clearly that the king is very interested 1088 00:55:34,730 --> 00:55:37,500 in extending the Benin objects in ways 1089 00:55:37,500 --> 00:55:42,180 that would celebrate a culture, make it even richer. 1090 00:55:42,180 --> 00:55:47,180 And he has done so by even supporting a production 1091 00:55:47,750 --> 00:55:49,600 that was staged last year, 1092 00:55:49,600 --> 00:55:53,600 that's give honor to Iyoba niyesigie, 1093 00:55:53,600 --> 00:55:55,800 which was a dance production 1094 00:55:55,800 --> 00:56:00,530 that was staged at Oba Akenzua cultural center 1095 00:56:00,530 --> 00:56:01,563 in Benin City. 1096 00:56:03,144 --> 00:56:05,590 There are a lot of artists in the city of Benin, 1097 00:56:05,590 --> 00:56:06,663 young artists, 1098 00:56:07,570 --> 00:56:09,130 And I know that they're actually waiting 1099 00:56:09,130 --> 00:56:10,530 for these objects to return. 1100 00:56:11,528 --> 00:56:14,090 Like I mentioned that the absence of the objects 1101 00:56:14,090 --> 00:56:19,090 has stimulated a lot of creative work and having the works 1102 00:56:19,500 --> 00:56:22,600 physically in Nigeria, we'll even do more. 1103 00:56:22,600 --> 00:56:25,840 So I believe very strongly that the king is open to that. 1104 00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:30,840 And he has plans to get people engaged in this and supports 1105 00:56:30,900 --> 00:56:32,600 not just the contemporary artists, 1106 00:56:32,600 --> 00:56:36,680 but also the artists that have sustained this tradition 1107 00:56:36,680 --> 00:56:40,580 of bronze casting in Igun Street for several centuries. 1108 00:56:40,580 --> 00:56:41,705 - Yeah, that's great. 1109 00:56:41,705 --> 00:56:43,155 Thank you, thank you so much. 1110 00:56:45,310 --> 00:56:48,800 Are there any other questions or comments for our guest? 1111 00:56:48,800 --> 00:56:51,340 I want to note that the person 1112 00:56:51,340 --> 00:56:54,040 who asked the initial questions about the cultural, 1113 00:56:54,040 --> 00:56:56,640 like why women don't work in metal is inviting you to come 1114 00:56:56,640 --> 00:56:59,110 visit their Foundry if you do come to Vermont. 1115 00:56:59,110 --> 00:57:03,080 So I hope that you'll come here one of these days, 1116 00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:04,323 I'll get you up here. 1117 00:57:06,202 --> 00:57:07,869 - Thank you so much. 1118 00:57:08,730 --> 00:57:13,000 - I guess I would ask one last question, just so that, well, 1119 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:15,410 first I want to acknowledge that we have a number 1120 00:57:15,410 --> 00:57:18,370 of listeners who've joined us for your lecture today, 1121 00:57:18,370 --> 00:57:22,040 who are in Nigeria and probably other places 1122 00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:24,460 on the continent and across the diaspora. 1123 00:57:24,460 --> 00:57:27,290 And I'm very encouraged to see them. 1124 00:57:27,290 --> 00:57:30,010 I want to welcome you and to say that I think 1125 00:57:30,010 --> 00:57:32,050 that it's events like these that make possible 1126 00:57:32,050 --> 00:57:34,550 the sort of building of relationships 1127 00:57:34,550 --> 00:57:36,603 and the extensions of communities. 1128 00:57:37,736 --> 00:57:40,830 And so I'm glad that we can do it this way 1129 00:57:40,830 --> 00:57:42,520 as much as I would love to have you here 1130 00:57:42,520 --> 00:57:44,203 physically present in Vermont. 1131 00:57:45,350 --> 00:57:47,480 I'd also wonder if you could offer for those of us 1132 00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:50,013 who are here on this side of the Atlantic, 1133 00:57:51,060 --> 00:57:55,830 how might we be able to engage with and help support young 1134 00:57:55,830 --> 00:57:57,750 up and coming artists? 1135 00:57:57,750 --> 00:58:00,540 I mean, is it enough to follow Instagram 1136 00:58:00,540 --> 00:58:02,340 and likes and clicks? 1137 00:58:02,340 --> 00:58:07,210 What are some of the tangible acts we might take 1138 00:58:07,210 --> 00:58:09,623 to help support artists in this work? 1139 00:58:12,110 --> 00:58:13,720 - I think there has been so much emphasis 1140 00:58:13,720 --> 00:58:16,380 on the classical Benin objects. 1141 00:58:16,380 --> 00:58:19,640 This is a time for us to look at the creative production 1142 00:58:19,640 --> 00:58:22,710 coming from not just Benin, from Nigeria 1143 00:58:22,710 --> 00:58:25,780 and quite a number of artists are doing tremendous work. 1144 00:58:25,780 --> 00:58:29,530 I mean, look at the breadth of artistic production 1145 00:58:29,530 --> 00:58:31,530 that I showed you in this presentation. 1146 00:58:31,530 --> 00:58:35,210 I think that it is time for us now to look at artists, 1147 00:58:35,210 --> 00:58:37,340 invite them, to engage with collections 1148 00:58:37,340 --> 00:58:40,070 that we have in Europe and America. 1149 00:58:40,070 --> 00:58:41,820 Already I'm doing that with the collection 1150 00:58:41,820 --> 00:58:43,760 in the RJ museum. 1151 00:58:43,760 --> 00:58:45,470 And I think that quite a number of other works 1152 00:58:45,470 --> 00:58:49,190 that will come out of this collaboration. 1153 00:58:49,190 --> 00:58:51,350 So it's a learning call for artists 1154 00:58:51,350 --> 00:58:53,270 and also for curators, 1155 00:58:53,270 --> 00:58:55,610 who are thinking about many ways 1156 00:58:55,610 --> 00:58:58,660 in which they can engage contemporary artists. 1157 00:58:58,660 --> 00:59:01,370 The contemporary art scene in Nigeria is very vibrant. 1158 00:59:01,370 --> 00:59:04,840 And I think that there's a lot to draw from from here. 1159 00:59:04,840 --> 00:59:06,184 - Yeah, thank you. 1160 00:59:06,184 --> 00:59:07,370 Thank you so much. 1161 00:59:07,370 --> 00:59:09,900 Well, if there's no other questions for our speaker, 1162 00:59:09,900 --> 00:59:13,860 we will let her return to her afternoon in Lagos. 1163 00:59:13,860 --> 00:59:16,072 Thank you so much. 1164 00:59:16,072 --> 00:59:17,130 - Thank you so much too. 1165 00:59:17,130 --> 00:59:18,420 - Yeah, thank you very much. 1166 00:59:18,420 --> 00:59:20,870 We're glad that you were able to be a part of this event 1167 00:59:20,870 --> 00:59:22,973 and we will stay in touch with you. 1168 00:59:24,642 --> 00:59:26,152 - Thank you, bye-bye. 1169 00:59:26,152 --> 00:59:26,985 - Bye.