Today over 800 plaques are dispersed across 47 collections around the world, with the majority in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. More than mere works of art, the Benin Plaques are theorised to have been a means to project the customs, status and diplomatic priorities of Benin Empire at a time of great territorial expansion. As such these reliefs provide a rare insight into the administrative sophistication, political ambitions and knowledge systems of the Benin Empire at its height.
By scattering the Benin Bronzes throughout the world, history has prevented creative and scholarly communities in Nigeria and elsewhere from studying and understanding what some regard as its “most singular artwork within the corpus”. This edition of the Digitising African Heritage aims to bring the plaques together for the first time since their forced departure. The resulting virtual collection and digital installations will serve as a crucial first step towards correcting the deep inequities in the Eurocentric narratives around the objects and the African medieval civilisation they stem from.
Digitising African Heritage is the first of its kind at MOWAA, and is set within a wider context of training, knowledge exchanges, research and public engagement. Through a series of focused interventions – each centred on a specific endangered or notable African collection – we aim to:
The Plaques Corpus edition of this project aims to build a 3D digital archive of the artefacts and learn more about the 16th century audience hall, where Benin plaques are hypothesised to have been originally displayed. The digital record will also serve as a safeguard against material deterioration, ensuring that the knowledge and beauty encapsulated in the plaques endure beyond physical constraints.
With the resulting Digital Collection, MOWAA aims to provide a platform to understand and engage with their historical, artistic and socio-cultural significance as a collective body of work.
Over the course of two years, MOWAA hosted four open training programmes directed at researchers, creatives, heritage specialists and museum professionals. This blended theoretical introductions to photogrammetric technology with practical learning. Sessions in Lagos and Benin were hosted at the National Museum, affording access to real artefacts and considerations on the interface between digital preservation and museum conservation practice. The closing days of the structured training programme were open to other museums, artists and photographers.
To further expand access to 3D digitisation skills training, we have also developed a self-starter guide with comprehensive insights into the photogrammetry digitisation process, using the Benin Bronze plaques as a practical case study. Beyond the training, MOWAA hosted Demo Days during Edo State’s Literature and Art Fair as part of its annual Education Week. Hundreds of young students, artists and innovators were given a glimpse of photogrammetric applications and interacted with the 3D models first-hand.
The Benin Reimagined workshop offered a unique opportunity for artists to learn about the rich cultural heritage of the Benin plaques and reimagine their significance in contemporary society. Drawing from our studies on the Benin Plaques, we invited artists to consider art as a means of memorialising, for asserting sacred and political authority and as tool for diplomacy.
This initiative highlighted the power of visual storytelling to connect people to their heritage, an area MOWAA is exploring with multidisciplinary artists and culture makers. During the workshop, artists shared their own practices, discussed how they integrate culture into their work, and explored how cultural heritage influences their creative processes. This involved discussions on how the themes and stories depicted in the plaques can be reimagined to reflect current societal narratives, from climate change to immigration.
The engagement brought together eight talented artists, namely Chidubem Ekere, Reez Kwaku Opoku, Dianne Cescutti, Joshua Eweka, Omoreige Osakpolor, Enoh, Bassey Anedu Edozie, and Nosa Machi. Their participation played a crucial role in bringing these rich histories to life, demonstrating the enduring impact of the Benin plaques on contemporary art and culture.
Unlike museum environments, where careful rules of preservation can limit our interactions with art, digital collections can travel and come alive in new spaces. In July, select artists from our Benin Reimagined sessions, Nosa Machi and Chibudem Ekere, co-facilitated a workshop for 40 secondary school students from various schools in Benin City, where they shared their artistic journeys and creative processes.
Students interacted with 3D plaques, learning how to interpret symbols and cultural references in vibrant interactive learning sessions. Lessons covered how the plaques were made, their unique features, and the stories they convey. Students also shared stories from their communities, imagining how they would depict them on a plaque. Lending a contemporary expression to the language of traditional relief work, artists guided students in creating their own plaques. This workshop provided an enriching experience, connecting students with their cultural heritage through art and creativity, with select pieces to be showcased at the project’s closing event in July 2024.
To understand the historical origins and uses of the plaques, our team conducted extensive research to inform our work in reconstructing and representing these artworks as a body of related works. Drawing from published research and individual insights, our research focuses on two main areas: the Benin Bronze Plaques — examining their form, content, and method of display — and the audience hall, the palatial court where these plaques were originally presented.
The main objective of the research carried out was to understand the plaques and their display contexts. This centered on two main areas of inquiry: the plaques’ form and display technique, and the audience hall’s history, size and design. Further deep-dive studies were undertaken to better understand the use of relief works in the Benin Empire, with a focus on the order in which the plaques were produced, as well their function, content, and interpretation.
Undertaking the study involved exploratory discussions with museum practitioners, a literature review, as well as face-to-face interviews with traditional artisans, historians and other experts. Our approach emphasized the importance of community knowledge, involving the custodians and makers of the bronze-casting traditions from which these works stem. Such collaborative approaches help ensure that research is deeply rooted in the cultural heritage and expertise of the community.
Our Spring 2024 MOWAA Lunch and Learn Series explored the promise and pitfalls of digital expansion, delving into the priorities and views from active heritage practitioners on the continent. Entitled “Preserving African Heritage in the Digital Age”, the first day of the 2-day online sessions featured presentations from Limbo Africa, Looty, Imisi 3D, and Solange Mbanefo. On day two involved debates on security and copyright issues in a panel facilitated by African Digital Heritage Foundation (Kenya) and a sneak-peak of MOWAA’s soon-to-be published 3D Digitisation Toolkit.
Demonstrating the breadth of possibilities, guest speakers showcased recent digital recording and reconstruction initiatives in archaeology and architecture relating to their own projects – shared their own findings and lessons learnt.
Over 60 museum staff and digital creatives interest in the fields of digitisation attended representing public museums, cultural non-profits and independent practice. These ongoing conversations inform our 3D Digitisation and Open Access policies, challenging us to be responsive to prevailing concerns and aspirations of our ecosystem partners.
Michael Tomiak (Digital Programmes Lead), Femi Johnson (Digital Heritage Specialist), Seun Ajagunna (Digital Heritage Specialist) and Uwagbale Edward-Ekpu (Lead Researcher & Historian).
Our research and editorial advisors for the Plaque Corpus edition are:
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