ONANAGBENEN BOOK
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The BOOK titled: ONANAGBENEN-AFRICAN ROYAL ICONS, ALTAR, TEXTILE and APPAREL. By Dr Princess Oghogho Iyase-Odozi & Uhunekpenma Nosakhare Idubor.

….A POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH ART BOOK ON ANCIENT EDO-BENIN ICONS/SEMIOTICS FOUND ON OVER 500 years old BENIN BRONZES.

Since 1897, this research is one of its kind that exhibits ARTISTIC translation/ interpretation and Symbolism of Icons found on the Benin Bronzes and objects extracted out of over 10,000 works scattered across the globe.

THESE ICONS ARE THE EDO-BENIN ART OF WRITING IN ANCIENT TIMES AND CARRY DEEP SPIRITUAL MEANINGS AND TRADITIONAL NARRATIVES

This well researched book interprets the artistic names, which are identified with the ancient motifs and semiotics and defines their symbolisms in the context of the people’s predilections.

These are mnemonics identified with Africans particularly, the great Edo Benin Kingdom.

The book ONANAGBENEN furthermore, highlights a Renaissance of the long-waned Edo Benin Textile Culture {EBOTA Apparel) called EBOTA, the future of Edo Benin Textile.

It is vital to promote our long-waned textile culture and ancient info in the BOOK titled: ONANAGBENEN,

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THE ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE:

A SYNOPSIS ON Dr. Iyase-Odozi WORKS OF ART

There are several series to Iyase-Odozi studio practice. In the series-1 & 2 collections, Iyase-Odozi’s royal scroll artworks of contemporary art carries historical mnemonics based on the history of Edo-Benin Art, and the icons are appropriated from ancient Edo-Benin bronzes. Most of these Edo-Benin bronzes have been housed in foreign museums across the globe for over 126 years, following the looting in 1897 by the British Expedition/ Benin Punitive Expedition. African traditional Icons, are in general, essentially conceptual and evocative. Furthermore, they are not only representational and illustrative, or abstract, but also, very meaningful and educative.

These Edo-Benin visual art icons were found recently by the artist on ancient art works of over 500 years old, and were creatively transferred onto contemporary ‘African Royal Scrolls’ /mixed-media paintings in different series. The African Royal scrolls were presented to the public through an art exhibition project titled ‘BeninIconography.com’. These contemporary works of art were presented in three different genres; a) mixed-media painting style called the ‘Royal-Scrolls’, b) Art Installations, and c) Textile called -EBOTA (Edo-Benin Onanagbẹnen Textile Apparels) / Edo-Batik clothing line.

These icons could be equated to Egyptian hieroglyphic symbols. About seventy (70pieces) of the royal Benin bronzes and its icons are highlighted in the book called ‘ONANAGBẸNEN: African Royal Icons, Altars & Apparels, Edo-Benin (Beniniconography.Com), by Princess Oghogho Iyase-Odozi (PhD, Fsna) & Uhunekpenma Nosakhare Idubor, 2023. Iconography, in Edo Benin language is called ONANAGBẸNEN consolidating the ancestral connections of our deities or gods and through the practical use of icons and motifs.

The Traditional ancient icons of the Edo-Benin bronzes are found on sculptural works of art and were easily adopted for prints and transferred onto fabrics. Significantly, these icons come in various shapes, designs and styles and popularly known to be ‘pregnant’ with deep meanings (Iyase-Odozi & Idubor, 2023).

After reviewing some scholarly works and exploring oral traditions, it is clear that some of these icons serve as an art of writing and a visual language, and are used to depict traditional features, functionality, or content. There is a need to enquire into how these indigenous icons define a people. African visual art icons, have become topical and crucial topic in the advancement and the preservation of traditional culture and projecting it into the global world.

These icons are used mostly during festivals, ceremonies, ritual processes and represent the people’s culture. African visual art icons and motifs are primarily a way of expression with the essential status of the powers to which one must respond to such ancestral powers. Across Africa, in ancient times, most works of art were considered incomplete without the use of icons and motifs as textures. They were believed to propel power embedded in African works of art, and were mostly subjected to spiritual cleansing with an esoteric spiritual tendency.

Visual Art iconography in Africa, has through research demonstrated that a typical African work of art is incomplete without the use and integration of icons. Such integration of icons into our contemporary production of art, thereby, serves to authenticates their origin, artistic symbolism and ancestral connections. THANKS!

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