00:00Before casting this sculpture in bronze,
00:05Ebua Fred Iyama covers it with the red earth of Nigeria's Benin City.
00:13These Benin bronzes are made the same way Fred's ancestors crafted them more than 500 years ago.
00:21The artifacts have been in the news recently as calls grow louder to return the bronzes,
00:26which were looted and housed in museums across the Western world.
00:32While more and more of these bronzes are being returned,
00:35only about 40 artisans remain making new sculptures today.
00:41And they worry the craft won't survive much longer.
00:50They say the problem is Nigeria's government will invest in the return of stolen Benin bronzes,
00:55but they're not investing enough in today's bronze casters.
01:00We went to Benin City to see how this craft is still standing,
01:04and if artists can keep it that way for much longer.
01:12To make a Benin bronze, Fred starts off by creating the core of the piece,
01:17a rough mold out of the red earth from Igun Street.
01:21This quarter was once bustling with craftsmen,
01:24but today it's left with only a few dozen.
01:28They make up the Royal Guild of Bronze Casters.
01:31Fred is one of these craftsmen, carrying on the legacy of his ancestors.
01:55The core is made of red earth from the same area bronze craftsmen have used for centuries.
02:02This statue is Fred's interpretation of the various busts of Oba Esegi,
02:07or King Esegi, the ruler of the Benin Kingdom in the early 16th century.
02:14He'll craft the bronze with the same techniques as his ancestors.
02:19I'm trying to soften the wax, because there is no sun.
02:24To make the wax, since there is fire here, instead of waiting for the sun,
02:31we have to use this method.
02:36This is the process of making the bronze.
02:40This is the process of making the bronze.
02:44This is the process of making the bronze.
02:49When the wax is soft enough, Fred covers the core with it
02:52and turns his attention to the more intricate details of the art piece.
02:56He does this the traditional way, with a cow bone.
03:01For the traditional people, they use this one, not spatula, as we call it now.
03:08What I'm trying to do now is to make it to become one.
03:13That is the big bead that is in the Oba's neck.
03:17It's what I'm trying to form now.
03:21The purpose of Benin bronzes has always been to record history,
03:25like a depiction of an important event,
03:28or something as simple as a king's unique style of dress.
03:33The Igun people, our ancestors, are historians.
03:39Not just telling the story, they molded everything.
03:44They mold each event.
03:47The only way they document it is by molding it.
03:55Now that the details of the bust are complete,
03:57Fred covers it in layers of wet red earth.
04:01Some of Fred's earliest memories are playing with this red powdery soil.
04:06Any new baby that is being given birth to,
04:09as he's growing, the red sand is always around him.
04:14Most of the red sand,
04:16why we begin to fall in love with it,
04:19that is the craftsmanship.
04:22As you are playing with it, the spirit comes inside you.
04:26As Fred is finishing up,
04:28he inserts at the base of the piece two bones,
04:31around which he forms an outlet where the melted wax will escape.
04:37Fred leaves the piece to dry overnight.
04:43The next day, Fred prepares the mold for firing.
04:47We want to guide and bind the artwork
04:51before taking it to the oven.
04:54Every part of the mold is covered, except for the outlet.
04:57Now, Fred can put it in the fire.
05:02This is where the meticulous preparation pays off.
05:05The wax around the inner core melts off and escapes through the outlet,
05:09creating a space between the layers of the piece.
05:14The piece is then placed in the oven,
05:16where it will be fired.
05:18The inner core melts off and escapes through the outlet,
05:21creating a space between the layers of hardened soil
05:24in the shape of Oba Esigi.
05:27This is called loft wax casting.
05:30For Fred, the ingenuity of the technique continues to inspire him.
05:35Some of us, sometimes we take time to wonder,
05:38is it our ancestors that did this thing?
05:42But the reason why we are convinced
05:45is when we see ourselves doing it.
05:47But what wonders us about our ancestors is that
05:50what prompted that idea?
05:52What were they thinking that made them come up with this thing?
06:00Fred melts these odds and ends into liquid bronze.
06:08He pours the metal into the outlet,
06:10filling the space left vacant by the wax melting.
06:18The molten bronze cools down and takes shape.
06:37Fred hacks away at the outer layers,
06:40each blow from the hammer revealing lustrous bronze underneath.
06:48When he's done, he hands it over to Sasa
06:51for filing and polishing.
07:02Sasa learned this work from his brother.
07:05It's the only step in the process that is modernized.
07:08He uses rasps to scrape away at the leftover hardened sand.
07:13Sasa picks at every crevice,
07:15making sure not to damage the artwork.
07:29Using a polishing machine,
07:31Sasa buffs the bronze to a perfect sheen.
07:45The techniques Fred and Sasa use
07:47were developed as early as the 1200s.
07:51Back then, bronze casters were noblemen in the kingdom of Benin,
07:55which predates the modern-day nations of Nigeria and Benin.
07:59Bronze casters could spend months working on a single piece.
08:03But 1897 was a turning point.
08:06The chiefs of Benin resisted British commercial involvement
08:10and staged an ambush on a trading expedition,
08:13killing British soldiers.
08:15In retaliation, the British pillaged the Oba's palace,
08:18stealing thousands of valuable pieces,
08:21including Benin bronzes.
08:23That February, the British captured the kingdom of Benin,
08:27and the looted sculptures were auctioned off across Europe.
08:32As a result, museums in Benin City
08:34have very little to show for their history.
08:44You can see them.
08:45They even have some in between their legs, behind them.
08:49All standards are the objects, and these are all plaques.
08:52And he's having a fun of himself,
08:55with his cigar in his mouth,
08:57and looking at the photographer.
08:59So all these collections, most of them,
09:02went to the world through the British Museum,
09:05and some of them are still there to date,
09:07and we wish they will send them back to where they belong.
09:10Over a century later, public opinion started to change,
09:15with advocates calling to return looted artifacts
09:18back to their original homes.
09:21Within that period of about 127 years,
09:25it was like we were in trauma.
09:27We were being disturbed because part of our history,
09:30part of our body had been taken out.
09:33But as it's now coming back, we believe that we are now full.
09:37Nigeria has been requesting the return of these artworks
09:40since the 1970s.
09:42Its efforts began to pay off in October 2021,
09:46when the University of Cambridge
09:48became the first institution to return a Benin bronze to Nigeria.
09:52Since then, the United States has returned 30 bronzes,
09:56Germany 22, and the UK 8.
10:01But this is a drop in the bucket
10:03compared to the 5,000 bronzes stolen in 1897.
10:09Fred says bronze casters like him
10:11avoid going to the Museum of Benin
10:13because it forces them to confront this dark time in their history.
10:44But in the next few years,
10:46Fred will be able to see some of those stolen bronzes
10:49up close at the planned Edo Museum of West African Art.
10:53It will cost an estimated $100 million,
10:57with part of the funding coming from the state of Edo,
11:00where Benin City is located.
11:14And maybe to Benin is a thing of joy to us.
11:19It's a thing that we know that can actually promote our culture the most
11:25and promote tourism in Africa, in Nigeria and in Benin especially.
11:31But with so much attention being given
11:33to the return of the historical bronzes
11:36and the tourism they may promote,
11:38Fred says today's craftsmen are being neglected.
11:43The nation is not helping the craftsmen.
11:47And the government, nobody is helping the craftsmen.
11:52Everything we are doing, we are just surviving.
11:57Even though Igun Street has been recognized
11:59as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999,
12:02its artisans are struggling to preserve the renowned craft.
12:07So that you all hear in the news,
12:09this is what the UN or this World Heritage Center
12:12are trying to do to preserve the sculpture or the art or the craft.
12:18But none of them will come to the craftsmen.
12:22For that, without the government's involvement,
12:26I don't think there is hope for the craftsmen in the next 30 years.
12:32The original bronze casters weren't faced with these pressures.
12:36They were appointed into guilds by the Oba,
12:39to provide them with materials like bronze.
12:42Benin City's craftsmen are looking for the same support today.
12:46They are importing the goose.
12:48The bronze we are using, they are importing all.
12:53They decide the sales of bronze, not we.
12:59Once they said a kilo of bronze is 30,000 Naira.
13:03How will the bronze caster continue?
13:07It will be hard for them to continue.
13:10But when the government takes charge,
13:16then the things will be easier for the craftsmen.
13:21Because they will not be financing the material.
13:26We reached out to several agencies within the Nigerian and Edo state governments,
13:31but did not receive a response.
13:34Fred's main customers are tourists and local art dealers.
13:38He says profits are not enough to sustain his workshop.
13:42He does most of his sales through middlemen.
13:45We sell for like $300, $400 to a seller also.
13:52Then that one will go and sell to the end user.
13:55It can be $5,000, it can be $2,000.
13:58Fred recommends buyers source directly from the craftsmen
14:02until they receive financial support.
14:04The place is an open place.
14:06Come direct, see for yourself.
14:10Know what they are writing or what they are telling people outside.
14:14You come to the source, you see for yourself,
14:18see what the craftsmen, what they are going through.
14:21That is the only thing I felt that will save this work.
14:28Saving the craft from extinction is so personal for Fred
14:32because he comes from a line of bronze casters dating back to the 15th century.
14:38His family name, Iyama, is a title bestowed by the king.
14:43Welcome, this is my house.
14:46Come let me show you something.
14:49As you can see, this is my father.
14:55This picture is like 40-something years ago.
15:04Everything, everything that I do now concerning this craft,
15:10I learned from my father.
15:13This piece is one of Fred's greatest inspirations.
15:16He helped his father create this interpretation of a stolen original,
15:20which is held at the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey.
15:24Something like this is so beautiful and unique.
15:31I feel, in me I feel very good
15:35because I know in 100 years or 50 years to come,
15:41this documentary is still retained as it is.
15:46My work will be remembered.
15:48I feel good that I am among those that are preserving the culture and the artwork for now.
15:57The younger generation will see the works of my hand
16:03as I have seen my ancestors' own.
16:06I feel very good and excited.
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