Enotie Paul Ogbebor
"Iye’s Role"
Europe, Germany, Leipzig
2022
Acryl on canvas
Donation to the museum by Ogbebor in July 2022
MAf 36596
The work "Iye's Role" was created as one of three works as part of the live painting performance by Enotie Paul Ogbebor in July 2022 here at the museum. Following the signing of the Joint Political Declaration on the Restitution of Benin Bronzes and Bilateral Museum Cooperation between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on July 1, 2022, Ogbebor was a guest at the Museum from July 4 to 8. After his residency, Ogbebor donated the three works he created to the museum.
According to Ogbebor, the work refers to the different roles, especially that of women and mothers, in the social fabric under the monarchy and in the long existence of the Kingdom of Benin. Thus, the painting shows, from left to right, the commemorative head of an Oba, a king, an Iyoba, a mother of an Oba, and of a subject of the king, representing the citizens of Benin, without whom the kingdom would not have continued.
Julia von Sigsfeld