Ife ancient arts will be in focus at an
exhibition the National Commission for Museum and Monuments is taking to
Stockholm, Sweden, AKEEM LASISI writes
The beauty of Nigerian visual art will be in focus in Sweden, when Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria’, a travelling exhibition, opens at the Swedish Museums on World Culture, Stockholm on September 6.
An initiative of the National Commission
for Museum and Monuments, the exhibition has been endorsed by the
Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke,
who has noted that it provides another opportunity to showcase to the
global community some of the best of the country’s creative resources.
According to him, it is an assemblage of
several ‘extraordinary’ works of art largely from the ancient kingdom
of Ife, which he describes as one of West Africa’s earliest city states.
“Although Ife started as a small cluster
of settlements, it has turned into a centre of trade and technological
development,” Duke says. “The artisans of this kingdom produced these
masterpieces that are appreciated all over the world. This historical
and tantalising exhibition, with collections numbering 109 pieces, will
be educative to the public who will take time out to visit the
exhibition.”
Duke adds that the success recorded
during the past exhibitions in Spain, United Kingdom and the US shows
how much the world appreciates Nigeria’s level of development in the
world of art.
“This exhibition will further strengthen
our partnership and collaboration with other cultural institutions and
countries in our efforts to promote our rich cultural heritage,” he
says.
The minister, who met with stakeholders
in Lagos on Tuesday to discuss the project, recalls that the country
also recently inaugurated its new tourism ideal, tagged, Fascinating Nigeria.
He also seized the opportunity provided by the meeting to announce that
Nigeria has been elected into the Subsidiary Committee of the Meeting
of State Parties to the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and
Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of
Cultural Property. It was so elected at the First Session of the
Committee held in the UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France from July 2- 3,
2013.
Duke enjoins the NCMM to see Nigeria’s
election to the body as an opportunity to help elevate its art and
culture. He expresses gratitude to the Museum of African Art New York,
the Fundacio Marcelio Botin of Sanda, Spain and the Swedish Museum for
their interest in Nigerian art.
The Chief Registrar and Director of
Exhibitions for the Museums for African Art, New York, Amanda Thompson,
says it has been a mutually rewarding experience working with the
culture ministry and NCMM on the project. He explains that the Museum
for African Art has, in all the years it has worked with the NCMM, taken
its responsibility for the care and preservation of the objects
entrusted to it very seriously.
“The art objects from ancient Ife, cast
in metal or sculpted from stone and terra cotta, are beyond doubt,
national treasures, and prove Nigeria to be one of the world’s greatest
art centres of all time,” Thomson notes.
NCMM’s Director-General, Mallam Yusuf Usman, says all steps necessary to achieve a successful outing have been taken.
He adds, “As a custodian of our cultural
heritage, we will continue to play our role in promoting and showcasing
our rich cultural heritage to the world. I assure Nigerians that these
objects will be returned at the expiration of the exhibition exercise.
The condition reports have been carried out here in Lagos Museum and
adequate security measures have been put in place to ensure their
safety.”
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