On Display in the Walled City: Nigeria at the British Empire

About

Nearly twenty Nigerian men and women were invited to participate as artists in the Exhibition, which showcased British wealth and supremacy while simultaneously stimulating trade with and amongst its various colonies. The artists’ families lived in the “Walled City,” where the Nigerian Pavilion was located, and demonstrated their craft daily to public visitors. The Fowler’s presentation includes a model of the royal altar for Oba Ovonramwen from the Kingdom of Benin, various ritual and domestic objects made by Yoruba, Igbo, Fulani, and Kanuri artists as well as entry doors, carved on site, from the homes where artists lived. On Display in the Walled City gives the Fowler an opportunity to share some of the research it is doing on its Wellcome Collection (donated to the museum in 1965 by the Wellcome Trust in London) and to offer new insights into the colonial enterprise in Nigeria.