Context (Field collection)
Commissioned by Professor Paul Basu (SOAS) as part of the Museum Affordances project, for the [Re:]Entanglements exhibitions at SOAS and MAA.

Ehigie, Mark and West Ihama come from the Ihama family, a long line of brass-casters who served the Oba of the royal court of Benin Kingdom. Today, 'Chief Ihama Bronze Works' is a family business that combines traditional iconography casting with modern works.
HEVaSOF (n.d.) Chief Ihama Bronze Works. [Online] Available from: http://hevasof.com/chiefihamabronzeworks.htm [Accessed: 02/03/2021].


Event Date 2/3/2021
Author: Benjamina Dadzie

Description (Physical description)
Free-standing cast brass pot of the Edo and Yoruba deity Olokun, by Ehigie, Mark and West Ihama. The pot is horizontally divided into four sections separated by flanges. The figurative representation of Olokun is standing on the third flange holding a cane-like item in each hand. Three handles are evenly placed on the third section, and two smaller decorative handles are placed between each of the three. The three handles have a snake-like motif on them.
Event Date 2/3/2021
Author: Benjamina Dadzie

Context (Display)
On display in the 'Akh'Olokun pot case in [Re:] Entanglements: Colonial collections in decolonial times, LKS Gallery, MAA, 22 June 2021 – 17 April 2022, with the following text.

'Akh'Olokun
Is it possible to repair the damages of colonialism? Can we put things back together in a way that acknowledges the harm done?
This pot was purchased in Benin City by Northcote Thomas or one of his assistants in 1909. Vessels of this type were placed on shrines dedicated to Olokun, an Edo deity associated with water and fertility.
Unfortunately the pot, like others collected during the surveys, was shattered, most likely when it was shipped to Britain. The Akh’Olokun has been reconstructed for this exhibition, but in a way that makes its history of breakage visible.
A reproduction of the pot was made for the exhibition by Mark, West and Ehigie Ihama, members of Benin’s famous brass-casting guild. Thomas visited Benin City just twelve years after the British military expedition of 1897 destroyed much of the city and looted its treasures, including the much contested ‘Benin Bronzes’.

Caption 1- Conservator Carmen Vida reassembling the Olokun pot, which had shattered into over 80 pieces.
Caption 2- Brass-caster Mark Ihama with the newly cast reproduction of the Olokun pot, Benin City, Nigeria.

LINK
https://re-entanglements.net/olokun-pot'
Event Date 22/6/2021
Author: rachel hand