Nigerian bronze artists cling to age-old techniques

After a short cooling period, the mold is dug up and opened, revealing three small bronze heads fashioned after an ancient monarch of the erstwhile kingdom of Benin in Nigeria’s Edo State.

The Edo capital, Benin City, has been renowned for centuries as the heart of bronze and brass craftsmanship.

Its most famous emblems are statues and plaques that adorned the royal palace and were looted after British forces captured the city in 1897.

They are scattered in museums and private collections across the world and Nigeria is now trying to get them back.

Museums in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands have already returned several hundreds of the artifacts to Nigeria.

Igun Street in Benin City houses the historic Guild of Benin Bronze Casters, an influential but declining body whose members still make bronze and brass objects using traditional methods.

The 3km street is dotted with shops displaying statuettes of all sizes, mostly royal figures from the ancient kingdom.

They are crafted by guild members who have passed down their expertise from father to son for generations.

Aduwe, 45, was trained by his father from the age of six. Although he is capable of “making anything” in bronze to meet the varied demands of customers, he loves nothing more than casting objects in the image “of our king or queen.”

Two years ago, he was part of a team that made a 10m statue of Queen Idia that overlooks one of the city’s roundabouts.

Queen Idia, the first Queen Mother of Benin, was a powerful warrior and influential figure in the 16th century, known for her role in securing the throne for her son, Oba Esigie.

The statue took six months to complete and was carried out in utmost secrecy as the oba, the local traditional ruler who commissioned the statue, did not want anyone to see it before it was finished.

Once flourishing and funded by the oba, who remains a very influential figure in Edo State, the guild now has only 120 members.

Guild head Kingsley Osarhenhen Inneh, Aduwe’s uncle, said that “many have left for greener pastures.”

Inneh lamented the soaring cost of materials, with a kilo of brass rising “in less than four years” from 600 naira (US$0.41) to 8,000 naira — often salvaged from the carcasses of vehicles.

Inneh said he would welcome financial aid to buy modern equipment to increase output and ease the work. After working as an engineer all his life, the retiree is counting on his two sons, one of whom is a lawyer, to take over from him.

Matthew Mathias, originally from northern Nigeria, arrived in Benin City about a decade ago and met a bronze caster who trained him to be a bronze artist.

“I have become like their adopted son,” he said.

Handling fire and boiling materials, lifting heavy loads, digging the earth under a scorching sun — the work of a caster on Igun Street is grueling and has changed little, except that stoking the embers is now done with an electric blower rather than manually.

The fire “brings out the ability in a man... The fire that is coming out here is the hardship of life. If I can overcome this fire, I can be able to endure the heat of society,” Mathias said.

In another part of the city, Kelly Omodamwen also casts bronze using age-old techniques. However, the 32-year-old has carved out his own path: minimalist sculptures inspired by local mythology and history to tell “the same story, but in simpler forms.”

“Every time I tried to do different things, I came back to these stories,” said Omodamwen, whose works have sold in Europe and the U.S.