‘Bountiful Harvest’ from Igbo Ukwu

                                             
THE piece simply titled, Festival, (Oil on Canvas) shows a flutist blowing away on his flute, an Ekwe player with his sticks hammering on the local instrument and a drummer beating rhythmically as it were on his drum. Arranged sequentially from up to down, each image radiates excitement, fun and great joy concomitant with festivals. “You see them mainly during celebrations,” explains the artist, Chinedu Nnaji. “I want to depict the culture and tradition of Africans during festivals,” he says. In doing this, he used the palette knife to give it unique impression besides the brush strokes for flat and bold effect.
  In Chieftaincy (Screen Print on Fabric), Anozie Nick who is also, the Vice Chairman, Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), Anambra State plays on the Igbo cultural motifs. The intricately designed textile is traditional regalia worn mostly by people of the South East during celebrations or festivals. “Everything about my art is about projecting the Igbo culture,” he says of the work. “It's an occasional outfit. I try to adopt the intricate designs of the Igbo-Ukwu people into my works.” There is no doubt about it; the result is delightful…
  The National Gallery of Art (NGA) exhibition by the Igbo-Ukwu outstation on the sidelines of the National New Yam festival between August 28-29, 2015 brought to the fore the latent talents of the Visual Artists from the ancient  town and its environs. Whether in painting, sculpture, textile or photography, the artists showed promise. In Togetherness (Wood), for instance, Igwe Ikechukwu, showed dexterity in wood carving and in Flower Vase (Clay), Aghannya Chike is able to manipulate his medium of clay to bring out a beautiful flower vase which has utilitarian value. Also in Bountiful Harvest (Painting), Coc Williams uses monochrome and mixed media to portray an old man carrying on his weary shoulder a cocktail of harvest from his farm showing the doggedness of the old and young in productivity.
  There was a conscious effort by all the artists to attune their works to the theme of the exhibition, Bountiful Harvest which featured more than 50 works in line with the new yam festival of which the exhibition is a part. Expounding on the theme, the Acting Curator, NGA Igbo-Ukwu, Judith Nwoye says: “Farmers have indeed worked hard and the Almighty God blessed the land and their efforts to yield a bountiful harvest, thus the reason for our celebration. On the other hand, artists have toiled on their various media in order to produce thought provoking master pieces for our enjoyment and interrogation of every facet of our existence. In the light of this, NGA has been at the frontier of engendering art appreciation as well as supporting artists in their pursuit of excellence.”  
  On why the NGA has been holding the exhibition as part of the New Yam Festival at Igbo-Ukwu since 2007, the Director General, Abdullahi Muku speaking through his representative at the occasion and Director, Curatorial Services, Titus Akusu explains: “The New Yam Festival has become an annual tonic in the propagation of culture, tourism and national development. In the light of the above, NGA has remained resolved in keying into this experience with a view to living up to its vision of becoming “a world class Gallery and global tourist destination”. He urged everyone present to ”march together in this onerous responsibility of building a huge source of socio-economic base for sustainable development through arts and culture.”
  It is instructive to note that the prime place of Igbo-Ukwu in the evolution of Nigeria's Art and Culture prompted NGA to locate an outstation there in 2006 in a deliberate effort to promote visual arts in the ancient town and the entire South East in general.
  According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the people of Igbo-Ukwu, ancestors of present-day Igbo, were the earliest smithers of copper and its alloys in West Africa, working the metal through hammering, bending, twisting, and incising. They are likely among the earliest groups of West Africans to employ the lost-wax casting techniques in the production of bronze sculptures. Oddly, evidence suggests that their metalworking repertory was limited and Igbo smiths were not familiar with techniques such as raising, soldering, riveting, and wire making, though these techniques were used elsewhere on the continent.
It is possible that the inhabitants of Igbo-Ukwu had a metalworking art that flourished as early as the ninth century (though this date remains controversial).