LAUSR

Legacies of Biafra was held over two floors of the Brunei gallery, which is housed by the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. The stimulus was the need to mark and commemorate the fifty years that have elapsed since the establishment of the Republic of Biafra and the subsequent turbulence of the Nigerian civil war. The genesis of the exhibition was in a conference, Legacies of Biafra, hosted by the Igbo Conference (Igbo Studies Initiative) at the School of Oriental and African Studies in April 2017. This exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Nigeria Art Society UK (NASUK) and was a visual illustration of the complex legacies of Biafra, the sense of mourning and loss and the belief in hope of renewal. As the curator, Louisa Egbunike, notes in her introduction to the catalogue, the conversation about Biafra and its legacies is not an easy one to have. Indeed, a number of the member artists of NASUK felt that the ambivalent legacy of Biafra was too much and withdrew from participation. The exhibition therefore had to carry a weight. The legacy of Biafra is one of loss and migration, of brutality and the desperation of hope. The shock of Biafra, the first major postcolonial conflict in Africa, was magnified as the international press sent images around the world of desperate starvation. If the continent of Africa is so unfortunately identified with the image of the starving child, then that trope can perhaps be traced back to reporting of the widespread kwashiorkor, the image of the child with distended belly that became the image of Biafra. This exhibition sets out to avoid repeating this imagery. It is there and not ignored, but the exhibition was curated to work beyond the mere documentary retelling of the Biafran story. It carried the legacy of Biafra through to the modern era—through the moment of the declaration of secession into the way the legacy persists into the contemporary. While the exhibition dealt with the depiction of bitter loss, it was also an examination of endurance and the “presentation of future possibility.” It was an examination of the way a future for the Igbo nation persists in the struggles for and the hope of “One Nigeria.” The exhibition was developed through the display of both historic and contemporary material. It made thorough and good use of mixed media, historical documentation, and the presentation of the literature, particularly the archive of Chris Okigbo. However, the core of the works here came from artist members of NASUK. In all, sixteen contemporary artists were represented, but their work was complemented by works by artists of an earlier generation. In doing so, a conversation between past and present was established. The artists included demonstrated a keen awareness of the social and historical legacy that 1 Uzo Egonu War and Peace Screen print; 79 cm x 56 cm Photo: © the artist