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I first heard about Dr. Barbara Plankensteiner in glowing terms
from Mr. Daniel Inneh; a former Secretary to the Omo N’Oba N’Edo Ukuakpolokpolo
Oba Erediauwa of Benin, and a direct descendant of Chief Inneh, hereditary head
of the Bronze Casters Guild of the Benin Kingdom, based in Igun Street, Benin
City.

We were both working together towards facilitating an
I.W.C-B.B.C film project on ‘The Lost Kingdoms of Africa’; a segment of which
was an interview with Oba Erediauwa on the status of the looted Benin bronzes
and artworks, now in the British Museum and, a documentation of present-day
bronze casting in Benin.

Inneh’s references to Dr. Plankensteiner were centred on the
magnificently-produced and informative 540-page catalogue for the equally grand
touring exhibition, ‘Benin Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria’ she had
curated. I met her in December 2009, in Lagos, when she visited my 1979
photography Exhibition and, characteristically, she showed an interest in my
photographs of Oba Erediauwa’s coronation ceremonies and activities. It was no
surprise that Plankensteiner was present at the opening ceremony of Peju
Layiwola’s ‘1897.Com’ exhibition, which revisits the cultural trauma and
consequences of the Benin bronzes and artworks stolen in the guise of war booty
by the British.

A mammoth exhibition

Why and how did she get to curate the mammoth Benin exhibition?

“Since I am the curator of the Sub-Saharan African Collections
and, our museum also owns a big Benin collection; my Director General asked me
to do the exhibition on a large scale with the introduction of Benin
collections from other museums in the United States of America, Britain,
Germany, and the Nigerian National Museum. I got permission from Oba Erediauwa
himself who wrote an introductory note to the catalogue, and worked with the
then D.G. of the National Commission for Museums, Dr. Eluyemi Omotosho.

“It took over four years to prepare the exhibition and I came to
Nigeria four times. There were about 300 works in the exhibition; bronze, ivory
and wood artworks, coral beads, textiles as well as historic and contemporary
photographs, and videos about bronze casting and festivals in the Oba’s palace,
so that people could better understand the art on display.”

Naturally, Plankensteiner is happy about the huge success of the
travelling exhibition, which was first staged in May 2007 at the Museum for
Volkerkunde, Vienna, Austria and ended at the Art Institute of Chicago, US in
September 2008.

“It was very popular and people were very much impressed about
the quality and history of the art; particularly about the history of Nigeria
and the Benin Kingdom since the 16th Century,” she enthused. “It was new to
them,” she continued. “People didn’t know that there are still Kings and nobles
and festivals and, a living culture in Benin. The exhibition gave a larger
picture of the whole culture.”

A thorny issue

I had to seek Plankensteiner’s view on the thorny and recurring
questions of why these great Benin works of art are still in national and
private museums in Britain, Europe and America; their current legal status, and
the possibility of their return to the Benin Kingdom, the original owners.

In his introductory note, Oba Erediauwa had explained that,
“bronzes were records of events in the absence of photography,” and made
viewers aware that they, “will be reading as it were the pages torn off from
the book of a people’s life history; you will be viewing objects of our
spirituality.” Barbara Plankensteiner was both diplomatic and knowledgeable in
her answers. “I am not in a position to represent an institution, but I think
the museums of the world are well aware of crimes committed in the past,” she
points out.

“We are trying to open a
dialogue towards solving the problem. It was the first time a European museum
went to Benin City and [created] awareness on this issue. It was an initiative
and it will take and, must be, a collaborative effort to find a way to put
things right. It is a long time and as the laws now have no legal basis, since
it happened too long ago; the laws are outdated. Now, it is a moral issue. It
is not an easy question and all the parties involved have to work on it.
Whether there is restitution or not, we don’t know. We have to exchange
knowledge and support ourselves and things will work out well. We should not
forget that in Nigeria, there are great collections of Benin art in the Lagos
and Benin City museums and, some of the highlights of our ‘world’ exhibition
came from Nigeria. Oba Erediauwa sent four representatives including his
brother, Prince Edun Akenzua.”

The history of lace

Dr. Plakensteiner is currently in Nigeria working towards a huge
exhibition slated for October 2010 in her museum in Vienna, Austria. As is with
her style to achieve excellence, she has been meticulously working on this
exhibition since 2008, involving many visits to Nigeria. The exhibition is on
LACE; technically, industrial embroidery for which Austria is famous.

“The exhibition,” she explains, “is a cooperative project
between our museum in Austria and the National Museum in Lagos. It is about the
history of the use of lace in Nigeria and the history of the trade in lace from
Austria. It began in Austria when they started to produce a particular type of
lace inspired by tastes from Nigeria in the 1960s.”

There is also an exploratory angle to the exhibition, which she
highlights. “The Swiss always sold lace, but Austria developed a kind of lace
with Nigerian importers. In the beginning, lace came through Lebanese trading
houses. With independence, Austrian manufacturers came to Nigeria and started
dealing directly with Nigerian merchants. So we will be looking at how it
started, how it was introduced, and how the styles developed in the 70s. The
development of embroidery started in Austria. We are trying to get all the
perspectives and document how lace was used in the past. It is established that
the centre of the lace trade was the Lagos-Ibadan axis from where it spread to
other parts of Nigeria. The main users of lace are the Yoruba.”

The Lace Exhibition starts in Vienna in October 2010, at the
Ethnographic Museum and it will be shown at the National Museum in Lagos in
March 2011. There will be an accompanying catalogue with photographs and
informed articles on the different topics represented in the exhibition.

Four Nigerian designers will be chosen to design styles from
lace materials provided by Austrian manufacturers. For now, the final designs
will be displayed on mannequins; and the designs will also be published in the
exhibition catalogue.

Again, Barbara Plakensteiner is trying her tested hand in curating Nigerian
culture for global exposure.

Scores of poets and performers were on the bill for the poetry
component of the third Lagos Black Heritage Festival. Themed, ‘Poetry, Song and
Memory,’ the afternoon of performances and readings held on Wednesday April 7
in the Agip Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos.

“In three weeks of running around the world, we’ve been able to
produce a very coherent group,” said compere Odia Ofeimun. He noted that the
poets on the bill fitted “every permutation of the generations in African
literature, from the oldest to the youngest.” He promised that the show would
present a composite image of poetry as it’s supposed to be, with performances
from The Steve Rhodes Orchestra; and Highlife greats Orlando Julius and Tunji
Oyelana. “Poetry is song is music is drum and drama,” affirmed Ofeimun, whose
co-presenter – the actress Joke Silva – was away “finishing a film that is
refusing to finish.”

The event was dedicated to Aime Cesaire and Leopold Sedar
Senghor, “Two exponents of Negritude poetry, which many of us have had to rebel
against but under which we continue to labour,” According to Ofeimun. Joke
Silva had been due to perform poems by Cesaire; these went unrendered, due to
her absence. The audience was however treated to Senghor’s poetry in
performance, thanks to the Crown Troupe of Africa. The late Senegalese
President’s poem ‘Mama Africa’ was followed by ‘Prayer For Peace’, which
dramatises Africa’s suffering at the hands of “white Europe”.

Eddie Aderinokun, Ogochukwu Promise (who read her poems, ‘Lagos’
and the racy ‘You Didn’t Tell Me’) as well as the group Nefertiti – provided
the interlude after a threatened walkout by Mabel Segun, in protest at an
outdated biography on her in the event’s brochure. On the stage eventually,
Segun recalled her early life before reading ‘Corruption’, saying, “I was very
influenced by the Bible, but not in the way people are influenced by it now. I
hardly read [the Bible] now; I read so much of it at school, I know it backwards.”
She also read ‘A Horizon Receding’ and the well received ‘The Plea.”

Gabriel Okara

Next on was another octogenarian, Gabriel Okara, whose classic
novel, ‘The Voice’ was published in 1964. Introducing him, Ofeimun said,
“Gabriel Okara wrote ‘One Night At Victoria Beach. Whoever read Literature at
school read ‘One Night At Victoria Beach.” Before reading his famous poem, ‘The
Call of the River Nun’, Okara spoke about the inspiration for the piece: “I
lived on the banks of the River Nun, swam there, fished there. I wrote this on
a hill, far from the River Nun. It was on top of the hill that this poem came
to me.” Then he read ‘You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed’ – about Europe’s
mistaken belief that Africa had no culture. The poem echoes ‘The Voice’ in its
use of the Ijaw concept of a person’s ‘inside’.

After his poem addressed to a young, innocent child, ‘Once Upon
A Time’, Okara, in an afterthought, decided to read one more poem, this time
from his most recent collection, ‘His Dream and His Vision’. The poet dedicated
the collection to all who suffered the tyranny of military rule and to MKO
Abiola, who – Okara reminded – once said at a rally, “You the people of this
country made me what I am today, and I will give you back when I am president
of this country.” But rendering ‘The Dreamer’ straight from the book (earlier
poems were read from printed A4 paper), Okara began to falter. He soldiered on
and the audience listened respectfully, but the faltering only got worse.
Eventually, he said, “I’m sorry, I have to stop,” leaving his audience wishing
he’d stopped on the third poem, on a high.

Femi Fatoba

The younger generation then got showcased, beginning with Tolu
Ogunlesi who read ‘Still’, for Haiti. Bringing the widow of Femi Fatoba onto
the stage Ofeimun said, “She is a performer in her own right” but on this day
she would be reading her late husband’s poetry. Lanre Fatoba read ‘June 12
1993′ and ‘2011′ from ‘They Said I Abused The Government’.

A third poem, ‘Aso Ija Mi Ti Ya’ was in Yoruba. She apologised
to those who did not know the language, explaining that, “I have a particular
attachment to [‘Aso Ija Mi Ti Ya’] because it was the last poem we wrote
together before [Femi Fatoba] left home and never returned alive.” Moreover,
“sometimes Yoruba is just not translatable.” She then went on to read the
piece, laden with the artful insults of a belligerent woman who hilariously
insists she does not want to fight. It left many in the audience with open
mouths. “This is to prove that poets don’t die,” said Ofeimun, after the
performance. Femi Fatoba wrote a whole collection on the city of Lagos, in
Yoruba. A translation of one piece, is the longest poem in ‘Lagos of the
Poets,’ the new anthology edited by Ofeimun.

Remi Raji et al

When it was his turn to perform, Remi Raji sang as he walked up
to the stage – to an unhurried introduction by Ofeimun – stopping to hug South
African poet Lesego Rampolokeng in the front row. Some in the audience hummed
along with Raji, who said, “So that I will not wait to hear Lesego, I will read
just one poem” from his volume ‘Gather My Blood Rivers of Song’. The poet said
it was “the most controversial collection I will ever write,” referring to his
controversial disqualification from the 2009 NLNG Prize for Literature.

Referring to glitches that bedevilled the event, Ofeimun
informed the audience that, “I skipped Amanze Akpuda because his flight has yet
to arrive. In fact, one of the [markers] of this reading is that some people
had to drive straight from the airport to Agip Hall.” Poet Emman Usman Shehu
was introduced as “the man who once sued the Zamfara State government for
introducing Sharia.” Shehu read ‘Not Asking For Much’ and ‘Next Ancestor’ from
his forthcoming collection, ‘Icarus Rising’.

After Akeem Lasisi (who read ‘Oshodi’ for the transformed Lagos
locale) and the instrumental girl-band, Topsticks – came a memorable
performance by Ghanaian Kofi Anyidoho. “African poetry is about poets like Kofi
Anyidoho,” said Ofeimun.

Lesego Rampolokeng

Then came dub poet Lesego Rampolokeng, who gave a wonderfully
hyperactive performance, hopping onto the stage and fishing his books at speed
from a bag and throwing them on the stage floor. Nigeria, he said, was the only
country so far where he’d had to bribe a customs officer to be allowed in. The
bribe was a copy of his own book. Rampolokeng talks at the same frenetic pace
as his poetry delivery. “I was walking alone. Singular. Solo,” was how he began
one anecdote. In his country, he said, “You have to be black to be a foreigner.
There are no white foreigners in South Africa.” The poet read ‘Bantu Ghost
& Lackey’ and ‘Syphilitic Theories’.

Adebayo Faleti and others

Adebayo Faleti, whose writing reputation was made in Yoruba,
delivered his performance in the language. In a dramatic and humorous turn that
transcended language, he rendered poems including ‘Onibode Lalupon’ (The Border
Guard of Lalupon), which played on the ‘speech’ of the talking drum. Of the
three elders on the day – others being Segun and Okara – Faleti was the most
triumphant, even dancing off the stage.

By now the programme was being rushed, as it had seriously
overrun. Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, Funmi Aluko, Iquo Eke and Ismail Bala Garba read a
poem each. Jumoke Verissimo gave just five lines of her popular piece, ‘Ajani’.
Many did not get to read at all. One of the highlights was a flamboyant
virtuoso performance by Orlando Julius who dazzled the audience; who needs a
poem when you’ve got a saxophone?

The Crown Troupe came back for an abridged version of ‘I Love Dis Lagos I No
Go Lie’, adapted from the 80s’ original featuring Wole Soyinka and Tunji
Oyelana. Then the man himself, Oyelana, came on to wrap things up with
infectious Highlife standards. At this point, it felt like the afternoon should
never end.

Daughters of Eve and Other New Short Stories from Nigeria is an
anthology of Nigerian short stories edited by Dr. Emma Dawson and published by
Critical, Cultural and Communications Press (CCCP), Nottingham, UK. It features
the writers Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Ikeogu Oke, Peter Ike Amadi, Jumoke
Verissimo, Ifeanyi Ogboh, Rotimi (Timi) Ogunjobi, Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike,
Tolu Ogunlesi, Soji Cole, Alpha Emeka, and Emmanuel Iduma.

This is an anthology so bad, I almost resolved to give in to
the fervent wishes of friends and foes – to give up reading and reviewing
books. It is becoming an unbearable ordeal. Why did I read this book? Well, the
editor’s preface starts out with an ambitious proclamation: “This series
focuses on the production of new writing in English, specifically new World
Englishes fiction… writing which is newly sourced, edited and presented with a
critical introduction.” This is the second in a planned series of anthologies
of short stories from certain sections of the world, where English is arguably
a second language.

It is disappointing that there is only one female writer
showcased in this volume. This is hardly representative of the muscular
performances of Nigeria’s female writers. Several of these alleged writers do
not belong in any anthology that seeks relevance. This is not an important work
but it does raise certain questions about how Nigerian, perhaps African
literature is viewed and categorised in traditional academia. It is time to
rethink the paradigm that drives the current worldview. Students of literature
are still being taught from the same tired pedagogy, reducing our stories to
the pre and post-colonial.

Globalisation as in the coming of the Internet and smartphones
has already dwarfed the linearism of colonialism in terms of its impact on the
way of life of Africans. To reduce today’s literature to something as remote
and amorphous as the post-colonial is to literally miss the boat of what is
going on in Africa today. Life is more complicated than that. Boundaries now
bleed gleefully into each other and dissolve into that gaseous entity called
the Internet. We must not be bound by the strictures of what was taught us in
the classrooms.

What I read in hard print lately seems to be relentlessly about
documenting the lives of the other, Africans being the other. Case in point:
Nigerian terms that are deemed alien to Western eyes are painstakingly
italicized to separate them from “normal” English. Why should we be italicising
egusi in the year 2010? Do we do the same to a Reuben sandwich? Why must our
otherness be branded with a big red sign – toxic waste? Stop italicising our
way of life.

The editor makes an eloquent case – that this is not the best
of Nigerian writing. Not once is there mention of the works of Nigerians
writers on the Internet. You will not find innovation here. The flagship short
story Daughters of Eve by Peter Ike Amadi is a heartbreak of a story only in
the sense that after reading this too-long tale that goes nowhere, the reader
is filled with compassion for the unnecessary effort that must have gone into
creating this distraction, There are some other comforting names in the book:
Tolu Ogunlesi, Ikeogu Oke, Jumoke Verissimo, and Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike.

There is a reason why they shine; they know their craft because
they practise it everyday everywhere. I enjoyed Jumoke Verissimo’s Lightless
Room. It was a reader’s delight. It did not belong in this collection of mostly
tired tales. Emmanuel Iduma does show a lot of promise in his story Guitar Boy.
However, even the best are plagued by editorial issues and poor research. Also,
the claim that this is fresh writing is easily debunked by searching the titles
of the stories on the Internet. I found quite a number of them on the Internet
and even in other “anthologies.”

Dawson may have consulted some experts on the subject of
Nigerian literature; however, it clearly does not show in the output. Several
influential names come to mind: Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Ike Anya, Muhtar Bakare,
Sola Osofisan, Chuma Nwokolo, Nnorom Azuonye, Afam Akeh, Obiwu, Lola Shoneyin,
Molara Wood, Jeremy Weate, Chika Unigwe, Victor Ehikhamenor, Ivor Hartmann,
etc. Some of them are not even Nigerians; rather they are digital natives
toiling on the Internet daily to push the envelope in terms of how our stories
should be told.

New Nigerian anthologies are born literally every day on the
Internet featuring truly fresh and emerging voices. Fresh, frothing,
scintillating prose struts out of those web pages and social networking media like
great palmwine. You couldn’t tell from this collection but Nigerian literature
is alive and rocking although the reader can be forgiven for thinking it is on
life support judging from the mostly wretched offerings in this anthology of
mediocrity. If it is any consolation, the editor’s three sentence narrative on
her Okada motorcycle experience in Nigeria provided one of the few nuggets of
hilarity and brilliance in an otherwise forgettable anthology.