Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Benin , Benin City
NIGERIA
Abstract
A number of Benin ( Nigeria ) art objects, particularly brass plaques have been recognized as serving the purpose of mnemonics, to aid the recalling of events or persons represented in the art work. After the dispersal of the Benin art works in 1897, these art works were photographed and documented in catalogues and books and found their way to various museums worldwide. Catalogues and books such as Read and Dalton's Antiquities from the City of Benin and from Other Parts of West Africa in the British Museum (1899), Ling Roth's “ Personal Ornaments from Benin” (1899) and Felix von-Luschan's Die Karl Knorr'sche Sammlung von Benin-Alterumrn in Museum fur Volkerkunde in Stuttgart ,(1901) and Die Altetumer von Benin (1919) adequately presented several of these objects in photographs. For numerous people , including Benin indigenes without actual physical contact with these objects in museums and private collections, photographs serve as the only means of viewing the objects. Using qualitative methods, the paper re-examines some of these photographs and their original captions in light of the indigenous interpretation from ethnographic research and oral literature in Benin City . How the photograph assist our understanding of Benin culture is highlighted. Barthes' methods of structural analysis in photographic message is used, as selected photographs of bronze plaques and objects are examined and reinterpreted afresh from information gathered from field interview in Benin City, Nigeria.