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The internationally acclaimed artist-scholar, Peju Layiwola, a Lecturer in the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos will be showing her recent works in a solo exhibition entitled Benin1897.com: Art and the Restitution Question at The Museum, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. The traveling exhibition which started its historical journey from University of Lagos,Nigeria in April is moving to the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.It is expected to be opened on the 20th of August till 10th of October 2010 when it will travel to Benin.
Benin1897.com provokes you to step into a triple-layer of discursive event: as seen through the exhibition of the artist, Peju Layiwola, a colloquium and publication by nine scholars drawn from across the globe on the vexed issue of art-stripping and the restitution question in relation to Benin. Benin1897.com refers to the British 'Punitive' Expedition and also presents an artist's impression of this cultural rape of Benin . It seeks to recontextualise the event of the invasion, during which the nascent British imperialists sacked an ancient government and its monarch, Ovonramwen (ruled c.1888-1897), and looted its, largely bronze and ivory, art works over a schism that seems more orchestrated than real. Till date, families from the old kingdom still speak of their losses, in human and material terms, yet our world speaks tongue-in-cheek.
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