Excerpt from a speech by Peju Layiwola held in Palermo on June 3, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne has 96 Benin objects which came directly from the expedition. There are museums that are very transparent and I find that the director Nanette Snoep is a very honet and open person. When she came there as a director she asked: \u201cHow many pieces do we have from Benin\u201d and they told her: \u201cBetween three and five.\u201d She went to the storage and she found 96 pieces! This is amazing. It means that for several decades, all these works were not shown. Only three works were on display! For my intervention within the exhibition entitled \u201cResistance! The art of resistance\u201d at that same museum, I was to look at these 96 pieces in the storage and to invite artists to show their works in a way in which contemporary art would be recalling these classical Benin works and objects and enter in a conversation with them. Working for this exhibition I was very inspired by touching these Benin works. I had seen some behind glass, but it was the first time I was physically holding such objects. It inspired me to write a poem, that I will read now and I ask you to join in, there is a number of call-outs that I ask you to read with me. The poem is also inspired by a poem written by Diana Ferrus as a tribute to Sarah Baartmann in 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have come to take you home <\/p>\n\n\n\n You whispered to me <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have heard too many sounds in my lifetime <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have become a game of numbers <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have come to take you home <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have come to take you home to the land of<\/p>\n\n\n\n Omo N\u2019Oba N\u2019 Edo Uku Akpolokpolo (Praise name of the king) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Written and performed in Rautenstrauch Joest Museum, K\u00f6ln, November 24, 2021 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Excerpt from a speech by Peju Layiwola held in Palermo on June 3, 2022 The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne has 96 Benin objects which came directly from the expedition. There are museums that are very transparent and I find that the director Nanette Snoep is a very honet and open person. When she came there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2140,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2133"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2151,"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions\/2151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studiorizoma.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/strong>I have come to take you home
Edo beckons on you
Edo yearns for you
O Edo, Edo ni mose (Edo, the land of beauty)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Take me back to where I belong\u2019
Amongst my kith and kin
Away from the soft whispers
Of words spoken in German, French, Dutch and \u2026
Words spoken too often and yet still unfamiliar
Wunderschon! Exotisch! Spectacular! Schon!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sporadic bursts of osisi (guns\/ammunitions)
The crackling of burning sheaves
The thud sounds of Benin soldiers dropping from tree tops like nuts
The clanking of metal against metal
The shuffling of ivories, bronzes and wood by desperate soldiers
As I journey through Ugha \u2018Erhoba, (Sacred palace shrines) to storages in ships,
pockets of looters, auction tables and to
the silent chambers of museum basements
Dead silence!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stamped with a new identity
2011: 189701:11292<\/p>\n\n\n\n
through familiar spaces
Remember Urhokpota? (Benin Town Hall), Remember Ogbe (Area where the palace is located)?
Of course, you remember Iguneronmwon! (Quarters for bronze casting\/also the name of the guild of casters)
To again hear the sound of frenzied bellows
The happy chants of the craftsmen
The pouring of molten metal and the sound of moulds cracking
to reveal yet another cast<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s been four reigns since we last saw
Yes, I shall rest forever in Edo.
In Edo, I shall find peace and rest for ever and ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inspired by Diana Ferrus a poem written in 1998 as a tribute to Sarah Baartman in Holland<\/p>\n\n\n\n