Augustina Okpechi
“THE descendants of the people who cast those bronzes, they’ve never seen that work because most of them can’t afford to fly to London, to go to the British Museum.” says Osarobo Zeickner-Okoro.
Amongst Africa’s finest and most culturally significant artefacts are the Benin Bronzes which constitute thousands of bronze, brass and ivory sculptures and carvings created in the then Kingdom of Benin from as far back as the 16th century currently seated in Western museums and private collections. They were looted from the city’s royal court by British soldiers and sailors in 1876. These museums have faced years of criticism because of the bronze status as loot and symbol of colonial greed.
While Germany has made it known, plans to return the collection of Benin Bronzes in their possession from it’s museum to Nigeria, the British Museum which has over 900 Benin Bronze is only one of the many museums struggling to justify the legitimacy of it’s collection. This is following decades of campaigning by Edo Obas for the return of the Benin Bronzes.
However, in a bid to change the terms of the debate, a group of Nigerian artists called The Ahiamwen Guild of artist and bronze casters has offered to donate contemporary artwork, untainted by any history of looting that showcases Benin City’s modern-day culture to the British Museum.
According to Osarobo Zeickner-Okoro, founding member of the guild and instigator of the proposed donation, he acknowledges that the presence of the Benin Bronze in European museums had allowed them to reach a global audience but that it was now time for them to be returned back to the place and the people that created them.
“We’ve never stopped making the bronzes even after those ones were stolen, I think we make them even better now…Part of the crime that’s been committed, it’s not just ok, those were looted, it’s the fact that you’ve portrayed our civilization as a dead civilization, you’ve put us among ancient Egypt or something,” says Zeickner-Okoro.
The artworks on offer which was unveiled in Benin City in a ceremony attended by a member of the royal court includes 2 by 2-meter bronze plaque with carvings representing historical events in Benin a life-size ram made entirely from spark plugs.
Zeickner-Okoro who had travelled from Benin City to London sometime within the month September, partly to advance his initiative, said he had a meeting coming up with the Curators from the British Museum Africa’s department.
This is also following the agreement within the Benin Dialogue Group, which comprise of the Oba, Edo state governor, the Nigerian government, and museums in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK, of Benin City, hosting a new Benin Royal Museum and the contraction of Anglo-Ghanaian architect, Sir David Adjaye, designer of the acclaimed National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, since 2017.
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