A chief of the Benin Kingdom holding a staff of office — and a difficult question about complicity, left open.
Bronze, 2015. Photo: Samson Ogiamien
A chief of the Benin Kingdom, holding a staff of office. This work refers to the era of colonisation, during which many of our ancestors were violently relocated and our traditions and culture scattered across Europe.
Freedom of Choice also poses a difficult question, still unanswered: what about the role of the Benin chiefs themselves in the displacement of our ancestors? Did they really have the freedom of choice to enslave their own people, or were their hands tied by the colonial system?
Yaruya