Uli: art and archive

'Odelegu', Nibo, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Uli painting on the walls of ‘Odelegu’, Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Composite of NWT 3125a (MAA P.31342) and NWT 3127 (MAA P.31344).

Uli is a celebrated traditional Igbo artform. It has been the subject of many studies, and has inspired subsequent generations of Nigerian artists, particularly those associated with the famous ‘Nsukka School‘. The word uli refers to a number of plants in Igboland, the berries of which are processed to produce a dark dye that was traditionally used to draw tattoo-like designs on the skin. Many of the design motifs of this body art were also used in murals often painted onto the mud/clay walls of shrines. These murals were usually created with a limited palette of locally available earth pigments – white (nzu), yellow (edo), red (ufie) and black (oji). Both body and mural designs are also known as uli, and both were ephemeral – that painted on the body might last a week or two before fading, while wall paintings would typically be renewed annually after the rainy season or in the days before a festival. Traditionally, uli was an artform practiced by women. The mural painting especially was a communal art.

In terms of composition, uli is characterised by linear forms, stylised motifs drawn from nature, elongated figures, outline shapes filled with dots or cross-hatching, and the use of ‘negative space’. There is generally a great economy of form; the skilled uli artist is able to evoke the world around them in their work by ‘depicting only the essential lines that make up any given object’ (Adams 2002: 246).

Left: ‘Body painting’, Fugar, present-day Edo State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1909 (NWT 1072, RAI 400.19719); Right: ‘Two women making uli’, Achalla, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911 (NWT 3751, MAA P.31898).

To the best of our knowledge, Northcote Thomas was the first to document uli photographically during his anthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria. Despite this, scholars of uli have neglected this important photographic archive and have tended to focus on the later documentation of colonial administrator-anthropologists such as M. D. W. Jeffreys and G. I. Jones in the 1930s and 1940s. Thomas’s documentation of uli dates to his 1910-11 tour in what was then known as Awka District, corresponding approximately to present-day Anambra State.

Only now, in the context of the [Re:]Entanglements project, have the photographs from Thomas’s surveys been comprehensively researched. There are over 100 images relating to uli in the archive, but, as with many topics that Thomas investigated, his findings were not written up or published. Only one photograph of an uli mural was, for example, published in Thomas’s Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria in 1913, accompanying his brief description of the shrine complexes of local deities (alusi) in Igbo traditional religion. He mentions in passing that ‘worship’ would take place ‘in an area of ground, frequently of considerable size, specially set apart for the purpose’ and that these sacred spaces would often be ‘surrounded by a wall decorated with curious paintings’ (Thomas 1913: 28).

From such a limited account of these ‘curious paintings’, one might conclude that Thomas had no interest in art or aesthetics as subjects of anthropological inquiry. It must be remembered, however, that Thomas had been cautioned by the colonial authorities that he should focus on matters of a ‘practical nature’, relevant to colonial administration, and not get distracted by topics of primarily academic interest. The fact that Thomas took so many photographs of uli wall designs suggests that he had more than a passing interest in local artforms (several pages of the official photograph albums from his tours were devoted to this theme). Unfortunately few of Thomas’s fieldnotes survive from his Igbo surveys. What has survived, however, is an intriguing collection of annotated drawings of uli motifs, suggesting that Thomas did make enquiries about them. While he does not appear to have written up this aspect of his research, Thomas did publish an article following his 1909-10 tour in the anthropological journal Man concerned with ‘Decorative Art Among the Edo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria‘ (Thomas 1910). This was largely focused on mural designs.

Between November 1910 and December 1911, Thomas and his local assistants conducted field research in approximately 18 different towns in Awka District. He made photographs of what we would readily identify as uli wall paintings in the towns of Agulu, Agukwu Nri, Nibo, Nise and Amansea. There are also photographs of other, less characteristic wall paintings and designs – some including typical uli motifs – either incised or moulded in relief in the fabric of the walls. Notable examples of the latter were made in Awka, Agulu, Agukwu Nri, Enugu Ukwu, Nimo and Amansea. While uli is generally regarded as a traditional Igbo art, this is really a stylistic determination. Thomas documented the same methods for creating both body and mural art during his Edo tour. In the context of body marking, for example, the equivalent of uli is known as asu in Edo. (Like uli, this is also the name of the plant from which the dye is produced.) What is especially evident in Thomas’s documentation of such practices in his Awka District tour, however, is the need to understand uli designs within a wider Igbo aesthetic manifested in a wide range of media, including other body arts such as scarification and hairdressing, as well as wood-carving, metalwork, and textiles.

Uli designs in hair dressing and facial scarification. Left: unnamed young woman photographed by Northcote Thomas in Igbariam, 1911; Right: Photograph of mask collected by Northcote Thomas in Agukwu Nri in 1911.
Uli motifs are part of a wider aesthetic repertoire, including hair and facial scarification design. In these photographs one can compare feminine hair and scarification designs on a young woman from Igbariam and the same as represented on a ‘maiden spirit’ mask collected by Thomas in Agukwu Nri. Left: ‘Girl with (?)ohgba hair’, photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in Igbariam, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911 (NWT 3853, RAI 400.19946); Right: ‘Isi Agboefi’ maiden spirit mask, photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in Nimo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911 (NWT 2970, RAI 400.16379).
Uli motifs in hair designs. Photographs taken by Northcote Thomas in Awka and Nibo, 1911.
Uli-like motifs in hair design. Left: ‘Nwamadu’, photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in Awka, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1910 (NWT 1834a, RAI 400.17577); Right: ‘Mboye’ , photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, in 1911. Note the smudge of nzu chalk on his left eyelid. (NWT 3172, MAA P.31389.)

Thomas may also have been the first to attempt to compile a glossary of uli motifs, with their Igbo names and interpretations. Among his unpublished fieldnotes are many loose-leaf pages of drawings, apparently drawn by different informants, with annotations in Thomas’s hand. Subsequent researchers have compiled more systematic glossaries of uli motifs, notably Elizabeth Willis’s 1987 ‘Lexicon of Igbo Uli Motifs‘ published in the Nsukka Journal of the Humanities. As Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi notes, however, Willis’s ‘compendium is neither an uli bible nor a complete dictionary of uli. Motifs can vary from region to region and artists are always free to invent new ones. Uli is not a codified sign language; rather it is an ideogram in its own right, one which tends to capture through its abstract and minimalist tendencies the worldview and philosophy of the Igbo’ (Ikwuemesi 2019: 175). Nevertheless, it is interesting to understand that what may appear as abstract designs are often in fact representational forms.

Uli drawings and annotations collected by Northcote Thomas, 1910-11.
Drawings of uli motifs, with Northcote Thomas’s annotations. Few of Thomas’s fieldnotes survive from his anthropological surveys. There is, however, a collection of these drawings on sheets of notepaper, evidently made by different people during his 1910-11 tour of what was then known as Awka District, Southern Nigeria. Cambridge University Library. (Click on image to enlarge.)

Setting these drawn motifs alongside corresponding photographs in the archive enables one to compare representational form across different media. One can, for instance, compare the representation of mbubu scarification marks, an adornment made on young women’s abdomens prior to marriage, in a drawing of an uli figure with the actual scarification marks. It is interesting to note how the belt-like strip of alternating crosses and circles, which wrap around the woman’s waist, extend out from the drawing of the body as a horizontal band.

Left: drawing representing a girl with mbubu scarification marks collected by Northcote Thomas. Right: detail of photograph by Northcote Thomas of mbubu scarification marks, Awka, 1910-11.
Left: Drawn representation of uli motif of a girl with mbubu scarification marks collected by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Right: Detail from photograph of young woman with mbubu scarification marks, taken by Northcote W. Thomas in Awka, 1911 (NWT 2124, RAI 400.16078).

As part of the [Re:]Entanglements project, we have re-engaged with the anthropological archive in different ways. We have, for example, taken the photographs back to the communities at the locations in which they were originally taken. As well as ‘repatriating’ this cultural heritage to the communities, this has allowed us to learn more about the sites photographed and, occasionally, the murals themselves. Recognizing that these photographs also represent an important visual archive of traditional aesthetic forms, we have also shared them with contemporary artists and invited their creative responses. There is a long tradition of creative re-engagement with traditional Igbo arts at the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a number of participating artists chose to respond to this newly accessible repository of historical uli murals. The results of the collaboration with Nsukka-based artists were displayed at the [Re:]Entangled Traditions exhibition at the University of Nigeria in February 2020, and a selection of the works were also included in the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge (June 2021 to April 2022).

Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi, Playing with Time and Memory
Playing with Time and Memory. A series of four acrylic on canvas paintings, each 101x101cm, by Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi, 2020. The paintings were produced as part of the [Re:]Entangled Traditions collaboration with artists at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Artists were invited to respond or engage with the photographic archives of Northcote Thomas’s anthropological surveys. Ikwuemesi’s series incorporates many uli motifs recorded in Thomas’s photographs.

When documenting uli wall paintings, Thomas sometimes took just one or two photographs of a particular wall or building. In other case, he took multiple photographs, even using different types of camera. He documented four locations in particular detail: the Ogwugwu shrine at Agulu, the Iyiazi shrine in Agukwu Nri, the Ngene (probably Ngendo) shrine in Nibo, and the Mpuniyi shrine in Nise. During fieldwork for the [Re:]Entanglements project, we visited these locations, left copies of the photographs with community members, and collected accounts of each of the sites.

Agulu: Ogwugwu shrine and ‘Ochiche’s house’

During his anthropological survey of Awka District, Thomas made a number of visits to the town of Agulu. In February 1911, he documented what he called the ‘Ogugu ceremony’ and ‘Ogugu house’. Today, ‘Ogugu’ is spelled ‘Ogwugwu’. Ogwugwu is a female deity or alusi. An annual festival was held for Ogwugwu, and it is likely that the walls of the Ogwugwu shrine were painted in preparation for this. As can be seen from Thomas’s photographs, the paintings appear fresh and unweathered.

When we visited Agulu, we were told that Ogwugwu was a very popular deity of the region and that Ogwugwu shrines were to be found in every settlement. One would make sacrifices at the shrine, appealing to the alusi to grant one children and wealth. In Agulu, the two major deities were Haaba and Ududonka. Ogwugwu is regarded as the child of Ududonka. There is still a shrine in Agulu known as Ududonka Ogwugwu, and it was felt that this is the place that Thomas photographed.

'Ogugu House', Agulu, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Uli painting on the walls of the Ogwugwu shrine, Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by one of Northcote Thomas’s assistants in 1911. Detail from panoramic photograph (MAA P.39450).

It appears that Thomas photographed two different structures decorated with uli wall paintings. The above detail is taken from one of a series of photographs documenting the Ogwugwu ‘ceremony’. The series shows a group of men dancing in front of a structure – possibly a thatch-topped wall enclosing the sacred precinct – to the accompaniment of ufie drums. The wall is divided into a series of painted panels, each with a distinct repeating design. The second structure, which Thomas labels Ogwugwu ‘house’ seems to be one of two shrine buildings within the enclosure (he also photographed a ‘small house’, but this is not painted with uli designs).

'Ogugu House', Agulu, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Photographs of uli paintings on the walls of the Ogwugwu shrine, Agulu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Clockwise from top left: NWT 2149 (RAI 400.16099), NWT 2159 (RAI 400.16133), NWT 2161 (RAI 400.16111), NWT 2160 (RAI 400.16110).

The uli designs on the shrine building are quite different from those on what we are interpreting as the enclosure wall. They include a number of more representational forms, including a python (eke), a venerated totemic animal in Agulu, and a human figure (perhaps wearing a masquerade headdress or carrying a pot on the head). The composition includes other familiar uli motifs, including lozenge shapes with alternating light and dark colours. One of the photographed walls of the Ogwugwu ‘house’ is different again, with repeating patterns that resemble those of small body stamps used to print uli motifs on the body.

On a subsequent visit to Agulu, Thomas photographed a building he labelled ‘Ochiche’s house’. Rather than being painted, the designs on the walls are created in relief in clay. In addition to the relief designs of a python, lizards, an ogene gong and a fan (all familiar uli motifs), there is also a series of three-dimensional carved clay figures extending out from the wall. The latter appears to include two male figures, a mother and child, and a female alusi figure (the form of which closely resembles the carved wooden alusi figure collected by Thomas in Awgbu). A further figure can be made out on the side wall on the right of the photograph. Although Thomas refers to the building as ‘Ochiche’s house’, this is likely to be a shrine rather than a residence. (Thomas also referred to the Ogwugwu shrine as the Ogwugwu ‘house’.) Thomas also photographed other locations such as the ‘Obu of Ochiche’ and the ‘Sacrificing place of Ochiche’, suggesting the shrine was located in the compound of a prominent individual named Ochiche. During our fieldwork in Agulu, however, this name was not recognised.

Ochiche's House, Agulu, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Sculptures and relief designs in the walls of ‘Ochiche’s house’, Agulu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Composite of NWT 2245 (RAI 400.15845) and NWT 2246 (RAI 400.15846).

As part of the [Re:]Entangled Traditions collaboration with Nsukka-based artists, the uli motifs from both the Ogwugwu shrine and ‘Ochiche’s house’ provided inspiration for the textile artist RitaDoris Edumchieke Ubah, whose late aunt was herself an uli artist. Ubah combines various motifs from Agulu in her applique work entitled Igbo Kwenu. Over 3 metres in length, this remarkable uli tapestry was one of the works selected for display in the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition in Cambridge.

RitaDoris Ubah, Igbo Kwenu
Igbo Kwenu. Appliqué by RitaDoris Edumchieke Ubah, 2019, 305x144cm. Inspired by Thomas’s photographs of uli designs in Agulu.

Agukwu Nri: Iyiazi shrine

Thomas spent a considerable amount of time in Agukwu Nri during his 1910-11 anthropological survey. In May 1911, he photographed the remarkable uli designs on what he described as the ‘market house’. During our fieldwork in Agukwu Nri, this was identified as the Iyiazi shrine, which was located in the Afo market place in Amaeze, in the Agbadana section of Agukwu Nri. Iyiazi is the main alusi of Amaeze. Traditionally the women of Amaeze would decorate the shrine in the lead up to the annual Ife Iyiazi festival.

Alusi Iyiazi shrine, Agukwu Nri, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Alusi Iyiazi shrine, Agukwu Nri, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Exterior and interior views of the decorated walls of the Iyiazi shrine in the Afo market, Amaeze, Agbadana, Agukwu Nri, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. NWT 2577 (RAI 400.15426), NWT 2578 (RAI 400.15427), NWT 2579 (RAI 400.15428), NWT 2580 (RAI 400.15429), NWT 2581 (RAI 400.1543), NWT 2582 (RAI 400.15431), NWT 2583 (RAI 400.15432), NWT 2584 (RAI 400.15433).

The uli paintings of the Iyiazi shrine in Agukwu Nri are perhaps the most documented in Igboland. Most of this documentation has, however, taken place in the last 50 years and records various attempts to revive the uli art tradition. To the best of our knowledge, Thomas’s photographs taken in 1911 are the only record of the paintings from a time when the Iyiazi cult and its festival were still active. According to Elizabeth Willis, the first time that the shrine was painted after the Biafran War was in 1972 in connection with the opening of the Odinani Museum. The Odinani Museum was established by the Ibadan-based anthropologist Michael Angulu Onwuejeogwu adjacent to the Afo market and therefore close to the shrine. A student at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, H. T. Agbogu, photographed the designs that the Amaeze women painted in 1972 and again in 1973 for his BA dissertation (Agbogu 1974).

Unfortunately the shrine again fell into disrepair. Then, in 1984, the Nsukka-based artists Obiora Udechukwu and Chike Aniakor, along with the American art historian Herbert Cole, led a project to restore the shrine walls and commission the women artists of Amaeze to repaint it. Udechukwu photographed the dilapidated state of the shrine prior to the renovation and reported with regret that: ‘It captures graphically not just the decline of physical structures but the decline of a whole system of beliefs, practices, social and economic relations, art, and culture in general’ (cited in Willis 1998: 165). Some 50 women were enlisted to paint new murals as part of the project. The process and finished paintings were documented thoroughly and have been published in various books and articles on uli (e.g. Cole and Aniakor 1984).

Woman decorating Alusi Iyiazi shrine Nri, University of California San Diego
Women decorating Iyiazi shrine, Agukwu Nri, 1984. Photographs by Chike Aniakor.

The cycle of decline and revival has occurred again and again. In 2003-4, Udechukwu returned to Nri, this time with his younger Nsukka colleague Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi, to lead another restoration and repainting project. In his essay about the project in Uli and the Politics of Culture (Ikwuemesi 2005), Krydz Ikwuemesi notes that it was very difficult reassembling the women artists who had worked with Udechukwu twenty years earlier. Many were now very elderly or had died, others declined the invitation to participate, explaining that they had converted to Christianity. Udechukwu and Ikwuemesi eventually found 12 women, most of whom were from other towns but had married into Nri families, to work on the project. Ikwuemesi explains that they brought their own uli traditions to the work.

We made several trips to Agukwu Nri as part of the [Re:]Entanglements project. The Iyiazi shrine was undergoing a further transformation at this time. The walls at the original shrine site were no longer standing, though the sacred trees of the shrine still stood in the old market place (now flanked by modern buildings). The Odinani Museum itself had long fallen into disrepair and was in the process of being restored by the local philanthropist Chief Charles Tabansi. As part of the restoration, the location of the shrine was moved to a site immediately adjacent to the museum and new concrete walls were erected around it. For the reopening of the Museum on 28 December 2018, the walls of the new Iyiazi shrine were painted with uli motifs by a group of art students from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, under the direction of Tony Otikpa, a retired art lecturer resident in Nri.

Uli decorations on the new concrete Iyiazi shrine walls, Agukwu Nri, during the opening of the refurbished Odinani Museum, 28 December 2018. Photograph by George Agbo.

Nibo: Ngene shrine

The most detailed photographic documentation of an uli-painted structure made by Northcote Thomas was of the ‘Ngene house’ in Nibo. Thomas visited Nibo in June 1911. Ngene is a male alusi (spirit/deity). In nearby Enugu Ukwu, Ngene’s female consort is Ogwugwu, whose shrine Thomas photographed in Agulu. There are many Ngene shrines in Nibo, including Ngene Okweafa, Ngene Ezeonyia, Ngene Ukwu and Ngene Igweagu. During fieldwork in Nibo, the shrine that Thomas photographed in 1911 was identified as that called Ngene Ngendo. This is the shrine of the Ngene whose mother is the deity Udo, whose own shrine is close by and was also photographed by Thomas. The name ‘Ngendo’ is a compound of ‘Ngene’ and ‘Udo’.

Ngene shrine enclosure wall, Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. NWT 3068 (RAI 400.16439).

During our fieldwork, [Re:]Entanglements project researcher George Agbo discussed Thomas’s photographs with two elders, Nwoye Okoya Ogbuefi and Evelyn Echeta. Evelyn Echeta had herself participated in the painting of the Ngendo shrine wall in 1953-4. They explained that the wall decoration would be done by younger women and girls in the days leading up to the ikpo ngene, the festival of the Ngene alusi. Those participating were from families who were adherents of Ngene.

The painting of the wall was a festive occasion in itself. The young women would bring food with them. We were told that of the approximately 40 participants, only about five would actually create the uli artworks. The majority of the women would support them by fetching water, preparing the colours and so on. The decorative motifs were a matter of personal choice of the artists. The designs were inspired by plants, animals and personal objects as well as including abstract forms.

Uli mural, Ngene shrine, Nibo, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Uli designs on Ngene shrine enclosure wall, Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. The mound in the foreground to the left of the composite image is described as akwali omumu, also an alusi to whom sacrifices would be made for fertility/children. Note another uli-decorated structure can be seen through the gateway. Composite image of NWT 3038 (RAI 400.16426), NWT 3060 (RAI 400.16428), NWT 3060a (RAI 400.16429), NWT 3062 (RAI 400.16430). (Click on image to enlarge.)

The designs were painted using a stick that had been crushed at one end to create an improvised fibre brush. The coloured paints were made from pigments sourced from the local environment: nchala, a yellow clay deposit sourced from a local stream; nzu, crushed white kaolin chalk; ufie, a dark red pigment from ground camwood; and anunu, a type of leaf that is mixed with unyi (charcoal). Each of these would be mixed with water to create the yellow, white, red and black colours used in the paintings.

Uli mural, Ngene shrine, Nibo, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Uli designs on Ngene shrine enclosure wall, Nibo, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Composite image of NWT 3064a (RAI 400.16433) and NWT 3066 (RAI 400.16434).

The mud wall itself was used to separate the sacred space of the shrine (the ebede alusi) from the wider arena, which the public are permitted to access. The wall is topped with a thatch (aju) to protect it from being weathered away by the rain. It is difficult to ascertain the layout of the walls from Thomas’s photographs – in one image there is a gate way, through which one can see a second wall, which is also painted with uli motifs. It is not clear if this is a separate structure or the back wall of the walled enclosure.

Thomas photographed many sections of the wall. Some of the sections are contiguous and it has been possible to ‘stitch’ them together in Photoshop to get a better sense of the overall design. The design includes many ‘classic’ uli motifs, including odu (elephant tusk), eke (python) and nnyo (mirror).

As part of our fieldwork, George Agbo and Glory Chika-Kanu attended the Iwa Ji Ngendo (Ngene New Yam Festival) in Nibo in September 2019. We were invited to set up a ‘pop-up’ exhibition of Thomas’s photographs taken in Nibo, including those of the Ngene shrine walls, which attracted much interest. During the festival the area around the Ngendo shrine was filled with people bringing offerings for Ngene and seeking the intercession of the Ngene priests to pray for them to the deity. Although the beautifully-painted walls that Thomas photographed in 1911 are now little more than eroded banks of earth, they still mark the boundary between sacred and profane space.

Ngene shrine during Iwa Ji Ngendo (Ngene New Yam Festival) in Nibo, September 2019. In the foreground, the weathered remains of the enclosure wall can be seen. This still delineates the boundary between ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’ space. Footwear must be removed in the sacred space of the shrine enclosure. Photograph by George Agbo.

Thomas also photographed another uli-covered building in Nibo, which he labelled ‘Odelegu’ (see photograph at the top of this article). This includes beautiful representations of human forms. For the [Re:]Entangled Traditions exhibition, artist Chinyere Odinukwe reworked these Odelegu murals, using them as a backdrop for her portrait of a woman named Nwambeke who Thomas also photographed in Nibo in 1911. Although Odinukwe grew up in the Abuja, she recalls seeing such uli designs on visits to Nibo, her maternal home town, as a child. Her painting draws attention to the links between uli and traditional hair design in Igbo culture.

Chinyere Odinukwe, Akwamkosa Achalugonwayi
Chinyere Odinukwe, Akwamkosa Achalugonwayi - Northcote Thomas references
The uli murals as well as uli-like hair designs photographed by Northcote Thomas in Nibo inspired Chinyere Odinukwe’s painting Akwamkosa Achalugonwayi, produced for the [Re:]Entangled Traditions collaboration at Nsukka. Bottom right and centre: Thomas’s ‘physical type‘ portrait of a woman named Nwambeke, photographed in Nibo in 1911. NWT 3212; (MAA P.31421) and NWT 3213 (RAI 400.19734). Bottom right: detail of Thomas’s photograph of the uli designs on a section of the Ngene shrine wall. NWT 3066a (RAI 400.16435). See also photograph at top of article.

Nise: Mpuniyi shrine

Northcote Thomas visited the town of Nise in August 1911. Here he photographed the decorated walls of the Mpuniyi shrine in a section of the town called Ara. One of the interesting aspects of the uli decoration technique at this shrine is the combination of painting and relief work. As with the other sites discussed in this article, Thomas did not publish any details of the shrine in his reports and no fieldnotes survive. During fieldwork in Nise, however, we met Felix Nweke Echele, who is the son of the last chief priest of Mpuniyi, and together with the stories of other elders, we were able to learn much about the shrine. When we were first shown the area we were told: ‘This is Mpuniyi, but the shrine is no more’. While the shrine is gone, the area remains an important sacralised space.

Mpuniyi Ara shrine, Nise, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Detail from a panoramic photograph. (MAA P.39414).

The Mpuniyi shrine took its name from the wider area in which it is situated, all of which is regarded as sacred. Behind the shrine the land falls away into a deep gulley along which runs the Olulu Mpuniyi stream. Water issues from the rocky sides of the gulley from a number of springs. The water from the stream is regarded as having healing power. Traditionally water was collected from the stream by a man especially designated for the task and brought to the shrine, where it was used for washing, cooking and other ritual purposes. While fetching the water to the shrine, this man had to be naked and had to hold a palm leaf (omu nkwu) between his lips. He was not permitted to talk with anyone, and could not put the water container down on the bare earth.

Mpuniyi Ara shrine, Nise, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
Uli designs on the Mpuniyi Ara shrine, Nise, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Clockwise from top left: NWT 3311a (RAI 400.19800), NWT 3311 (RAI 400.19799), NWT 3313a (RAI 400.19802), NWT 3313 (RAI 400.19801).

Felix’s father, Echele Edolu, died in 1966 when Felix was just 6 years old. The man who was to succeed as chief priest did not take up the position, however, due to his Christian faith and an alternative priest was not found. As a result the shrine went into decline and the building eventually collapsed. In the 1980s, a village hall and school were built in the vicinity, and in 2005 a large Catholic church dedicated to St Peter and St Paul was established on the site. By this time, the majority of the people of Ara were Christians. In the gulley an ‘adoration ground’ was established with various concrete statues inspired by biblical scenes. In 2012, the adoration ground and the Mpuniyi stream itself were blessed by the Catholic Bishop of the Awka Diocese in order to Christianise it. Just as people came from far and wide to seek the blessings of the Mpuniyi deity, crowds now come to the adoration ground to pray and take the holy water. It is a very interesting example of the sacred power of an indigenous deity and its shrine being appropriated by the Christian religion, and hence the Christianisation of the Igbo sacred landscape.

St Peter and St Paul Catholic Church, Nise. George Agbo, 2019.
St Peter and St Paul Catholic Church, Mpuniyi, Nise, 2019. The church is built on the site of the Mpuniyi Ara shrine – an example of the Christianisation of the Igbo sacred landscape. Photograph by George Agbo.

Amansea: decorated house

The majority of the uli decorated walls that Thomas photographed were associated with shrines devoted to particular deities. He did also document uli designs on the walls of the compounds of presumably wealthy families. A good example is the entrance gate to a compound of a family in Amansea. Unfortunately, Thomas did not record the name of the family.

Uli murals, Amansea, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
‘Decorated house’, Amansea, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote W. Thomas in 1911. Clockwise from left: NWT 3470 (RAI 400.20024), NWT 3472 (RAI 400.20025), NWT 3472 (RAI 400.20026). Note the uwho shrine in the foreground of the photograph bottom right.

The designs are made on the walls flanking two doorways, which would have had elaborately carved doors. The clay of the walls is incised with patterns and the paintings, of animal and human forms outlined in white or yellow dots, is created around these. In the foreground of the wider shot of the compound, a carved uwho (ancestral shrine) can be seen.

Uli, the Igbo heritage crisis and the colonial archive

In a recent article in the journal Utafiti, Krydz Ikwuemesi discusses the uli art tradition and its revival in relation to what he terms the Igbo ‘heritage crisis’. Ikwuemesi argues that one of the greatest misfortunes of modernisation in Igboland is the ‘dissonance that shapes the perception of tradition and heritage’ (2019: 187). This denigration of traditional Igbo culture is a legacy of colonialism and Christian missionary activity, but has also accelerated in the postcolonial era with the expansion of Pentecostalism and adoption of ‘Western’ values. This has led to an ‘intensive process of deculturation‘ in which ‘Igbo autochthonous ideas, including uli, are grossly devalued’ (2019: 188). ‘The triumph of Pentecostalism reflects the death of Igbo religion’, writes Ikwuemesi. And ‘the death of a people’s religion is invariably the death of their culture’ (ibid.).

While the social and political crises affecting so many Nigerians cannot be reduced only to the sphere of ‘culture’, the cultures of colonialism and Christianity have had a far-reaching impact. The question that Ikwuemesi raises is what role culture – including ‘cultural education’ – might play in shaping a better future, a future that is not based on ‘self-effacement’ and devaluation, but is rather grounded in indigenous values. What is needed, Ikwuemesi suggests is a ‘cultural rearmament’, in which art – including the art of uli – must be ‘chief among the arsenal’ (2019: 198).

Reflecting on the remarkable archive of traditional art represented in Northcote Thomas’s photographs of uli, one is struck by one of the cruel paradoxes of colonialism: that the same mindset that led to the destruction of the cultural worlds of the colonised also expended great effort in trying to preserve what it was destroying. The difference, of course, is that colonialism produced the anthropological archive, in which soon to be extinguished beliefs and practices were merely documented in photographs, drawings, sound recordings and artefact collections, whereas what was destroyed was a dynamic, living tradition. One of the questions that the [Re:]Entanglements project has been posing is whether, in the wake of colonialism, that anthropological archive has a role to play in what Ikwuemesi calls a ‘cultural rearmament’.

Many thanks to Dr George Agbo and Prof Krydz Ikwuemesi for their advice and assistance with this article.

References

  • Adams, S. M. (2002) ‘Hand to Hand: Uli Body and Wall Painting and Artistic Identity in Southeastern Nigeria’. PhD dissertation, Yale University.
  • Agbogu, H. T. (1974) ‘The Art of Nri: A Heritage of the Philosophy’, BA thesis, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
  • Cole, H. M. and C. C. Aniakor (1984) Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California.
  • Ikwuemesi, C. K. (2005) ‘Primitives or Classicists? The Women Uli Painters of Nri’, in C. K. Ikwuemesi and E. Agbaiyi (eds), The Rediscovery of Tradition: Uli and the Politics of Culture, pp.1-34. Lagos: Pendulum Centre for Culture and Development.
  • Ikwuemesi, C. K. (2019) ‘Problems and Prospects of Uli Art Idiom and the Igbo Heritage Crisis’, Utafiti 14.2, pp.171-201.
  • Thomas, N. W. (1910) ‘Decorative Art Among the Edo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria: I. Decoration of Buildings’, Man 10, pp.65-66.
  • Thomas, N. W. (1913) Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part I: Law and Custom. London: Harrison.
  • Willis, E. A. (1987) ‘A Lexicon of Igbo Uli Motifs’, Nsukka Journal of the Humanities 1, pp.91-121.

[Re:]Entanglements at the Igbo Conference

Igbo Conference 2021

The [Re:]Entanglements project featured prominently in the 2021 Igbo Conference, with its themes of rebirth, renewal and regeneration. Due to the Covid-19 crisis, the conference was held online, but lively debates followed the various talks.

[Re:]Entanglements project researchers George Agbo of the Department of Fine & Applied Arts and Glory Chika-Kanu of the Department of Political Sciences, both University of Nigeria, Nsukka, made fascinating presentations based on our fieldwork with the Northcote Thomas archives. You can watch their presentations below.

George Agbo discusses how the power of sacred shrines and landscapes has been appropriated by the Church to form new syncretic belief systems, drawing on both traditional Igbo and Christian belief systems. He draws on examples including the Mpuniyi Ara shrine in Nimo, the Idemili shrine in Agulu and Ngene Ngendo shrine in Nibo, all of which were visited and photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911, to discuss the transformations these sites have undergone over the past 100 years.
Glory Chika-Kanu discusses continuing belief in Ilọ Ụwa (reincarnation) among Igbo communities and how this became evident through our fieldwork returning Northcote Thomas’s photographic portraits of individuals to the locations in which they were originally taken in 1911. Glory explores the different ways in which people identify their ancestors, including those whom they reincarnate, through the agency of the archival photographs.

At the start of [Re:]Entanglements, Paul Basu introduced the project in a keynote at the 2018 Igbo Conference with a presentation entitled Colonial Anthropology and its Archival Legacies.

Musical returns and revivals

Ikenna Onwuegbuna reworking Igbo sound archive

One of the archival legacies of N. W. Thomas‘ anthropological surveys of Southern Nigeria and Sierra Leone is a unique collection of around 750 wax cylinder sound recordings. Since they were recorded using a long-obsolete technology, it had been virtually impossible to listen to the recordings until the British Library Sound Archive digitized them a few years ago. It is only now, however, through the [Re:]Entanglements project that we are beginning to appreciate their remarkable value.

The recordings, which include stories, songs, music, conversations and ‘samples of language‘, constitute an important primary source concerning the histories of the various locations and communities included in Thomas’ itineraries. Due to the poor quality of the recordings and linguistic changes in the areas in which they were made, the recordings are challenging to work with. In an earlier article, Revisiting some Awka folksongs, ethnomusicologist Samson Uchenna Eze discusses some of the difficulties transcribing a selection of the recordings.

As part of our collaboration with colleagues at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Dr Ikenna Onwuegbuna of the Department of Music has analysed and reworked a further selection of Thomas’ recordings made in the Igbo-speaking towns of Awka and Agulu in 1911. Onwuegbuna’s grandmother was a well-known singer, and, as an indigene of the Awka region himself, Onwuegbuna is able to provide invaluable insight into the cultural and musical context of the recordings, able to discern nuances and idioms particular to that context. In what follows he provides a kind of masterclass on each of the recordings, before reflecting on their broader significance today.

Ikenna Onwuegbuna [Re:]Entangled Traditions exhibition University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Dr Ikenna Onwuegbuna introducing the traditional music ensemble at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, which he directs, at the opening of the [Re:]Entangled Traditions exhibition, February 2020. Photograph by Paul Basu.

Reworking archival sound

As an ethnomusicologist, music performer and studio producer, Onwuegbuna carefully selected, scrutinized and creatively reworked five of the audio tracks recorded by Thomas. These include three vocal songs, a song performed by a Mmọ̄nwụ̄ (a ‘spirit manifest’ or, less correctly, masquerade), and an instrumental track.

As Onwuegbuna noted in conversation, the limitations of the phonograph sound recording equipment that was available to Thomas are very evident in the recordings. In addition to the high levels of noise, the wax cylinders have an extremely limited dynamic range, and reproduce only a narrow frequency spectrum. The duration of the recordings was limited to about 2½ minutes. Another significant limitation was the fact that recording was made not electronically, through a microphone, but via a horn, which funnelled sound waves onto a membrane upon which a cutting needle was attached. The mouth of the horn had to be placed close to the sound source – thus a soloist singing directly into the horn would produce a good recording, while members of a chorus or instrumentalists positioned further away might not register well.

The only photograph from N. W. Thomas’ anthropological surveys showing his wax cylinder phonograph recorder. Photograph by N. W. Thomas, Agila, present-day Benue State, Nigeria, 1913. See Sound recording in the field article. (NWT 4885; MAA P.32756.)
Group of children from Hula singing into an Edison phonograph during the 1898-99 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait. One gets a better sense of the limitations of the phonograph and its recording horn in this photograph. (MAA
N.34988.ACH2.)

Mindful of these limitations, which convey a distorted impression of this sonic heritage, Onwuegbuna has recorded a new version of each of the historical recordings using modern studio techniques, including sampling of the traditional instruments that would have been used, but which are barely audible in the originals. This has provided an opportunity of imagining how the original performances may have sounded, with a much broader tonal and dynamic range, and complete with choruses and full instrumentation.

As well as recording them, Northcote Thomas also collected examples of musical instruments during his anthropological surveys. Pictured is a selection of instruments collected from the Awka region in 1910-11 that feature in Ikenna Onwuegbuna’s reworkings of the historical recordings. Clockwise from bottom left: Ékwé (wooden slit-drum) (MAA Z 14218); Ọ́yọ̀ (pebble-filled basket rattle) (MAA Z 14061); Ọ́yọ̀ (pebble-filled basket rattle) (MAA Z 14223.1); Ōgénè (clapperless bells) (MAA Z 14236); Ọ̀jà (notched end-blown flute) (MAA Z 14046); Ị̀gbà (membrane drum) (MAA Z 14200).

For each of the recordings we include the original (digitized) wax cylinder recording made by Thomas, Onwuegbuna’s re-recording of the track, a short video in which Onwuegbuna discusses the original track and how he has reworked it, as well as additional musicological notes.

Kwà-àjáyámmá – vocal group, Agulu, 1911 (#449)

Original N. W. Thomas recording of vocal group, Agulu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, February 1911. (NWT 449; BL C51/2334.)
Ikenna Onwuegbuna’s contemporary reworking of the recording, 2019.
Ikenna Onwuegbuna discusses Thomas’ recording no.449 and his approach to reworking it. In conversation with Paul Basu.

This is a women’s dance song recorded by N. W. Thomas in Agulu, Awka area, in 1911. In reinterpreting the song, I was guided by the thematic contents to supply instrumental accompaniments and vocal harmony to the original. I also enriched the lyrical content by adding some new materials while retaining some of the original contents.

Kwà-àjáyámmá, an onomatopoeic sound and chorused response to the melodic calls of the soloist, is a non-lexical text used in describing the syncopated rhythmic movements of the dancers. As the soloist sings about the innovations that the group has introduced courtesy of their travels to near and far places, this newness is celebrated in chorused response and dance.

Since Igbo musical instruments have gender inscriptions and gender restrictions, I carefully selected the accompanying instruments along the lines of such bounds.

Álō (metal gong)obbligato
Ùdù (pot drum)pulse marker
Ị̄chākā (beaded gourd rattles)rhythmic
Ọ́kpọ́kọ́lọ́ (wooden claves)time referent
Ōgénè (clapperless bells)rhythmic
Ékwé (wooden slit-drum)rhythmic

Àrụ̀kụ̀ Gbá Ngwā – vocal group, Awka, 1911 (#435)

Original N. W. Thomas recording of female vocal group, Awka, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, 25 January 1911. (NWT 435; BL C51/2675.)
Ikenna Onwuegbuna’s contemporary reworking of the recording, 2019.
Ikenna Onwuegbuna discusses Thomas’ recording no.435 and his approach to reworking it. In conversation with Paul Basu.

Àrụ̀kụ̀ gbá ngwā (meaning ‘Àrụ̀kụ̀, hasten up’) was recorded by N. W. Thomas in Awka in 1911, as a female duet. In my reinterpretation, I treated the so-called female duet (which is actually two female voices singing in unison) as a vocal introduction to a mixed-gender dance song. The introduction, in irregular rhythm, is preceded with a horn sound, which warns the listener to expect more in the music than merely a female music ensemble. As the music modulates metrically from irregular to regular rhythm, a dance mode is ignited, accompanied by a dense instrumental texture. This dense texture is further deepened by the vocal harmony of the chorused responses. The lyrics chronicle the history of the group – their collective and individual achievements, and their popularity – and, at the same time, highlights the norms and values of the land. While the onomatopoeic sounds in the chorus are used for exclamations, the chanted words that interject occasionally are declamations – a common practice in a male or mixed gender ensemble.

 The instruments deployed in the ensemble include:

Álō (metal gong)obbligato
Òpù (animal horn)speech surrogate
Ọ̀jà (notched end-blown flute)instrumental melody
Ị̀gbà (membrane drum)melo-rhythmic
Ùdù (pot drum)pulse marker
Ị̄chākā (beaded gourd rattles)rhythmic
Ọ́kpọ́kọ́lọ́ (wooden claves)time referent
Ōgénè (clapperless bells)rhythmic
Ékwé (wooden slit-drum)rhythmic

Íyó-ólòlólō – vocal group, Awka, 1911 (#436)

Original N. W. Thomas recording of female vocal group, Awka, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, 25 January 1911. (NWT 436; BL C51/2676.)
Ikenna Onwuegbuna’s contemporary reworking of the recording, 2019.
Ikenna Onwuegbuna discusses Thomas’ recording no.436 and his approach to reworking it. In conversation with Paul Basu.

This song, by a vocal group recorded by N. W. Thomas in Awka in 1911, celebrates music, the talent of music-making, and the musicians. In the lyrics, music is metaphorical alluded to as the drum (Ị̀gbà), thereby implying that the group is a mixed ensemble of melodic and rhythmic (melo-rhythmic) instruments. In my reinterpretation, I introduced vocal harmony and instrumental accompaniment.

Ị̀gbà (membrane drum)melo-rhythmic
Ékpílí (pod rattles)time referent
Ùdù (pot drum)pulse marker
Ị̄chākā (beaded gourd rattles)rhythmic
Ọ́kpọ́kọ́lọ́ (wooden claves)time referent
Ōgénè (clapperless bells)rhythmic
Ékwé (wooden slit-drum)rhythmic

Égwú Mmọ̄nwụ̄ – vocal group, Agulu, 1911 (#442)

Original N. W. Thomas recording of male vocal group, Agulu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, 12 February 1911. (NWT 442; BL C51/2686.)
Ikenna Onwuegbuna’s contemporary reworking of the recording, 2019.
Ikenna Onwuegbuna discusses Thomas’ recording no.442 and his approach to reworking it. In conversation with Paul Basu.

Égwú mmọ̄nwụ̄ (music of the spirit) captures the reality of the union between the living and the ancestors in Igbo cosmology. Here, two masked singers in muffled voices (ónú mmọ̄nwụ̄) were captured in a vocal performance by N. W. Thomas in 1911 in Agulu. In the call and response vocal interchange, the ‘spirit-manifest’ (Mmọ̄nwụ̄) passes coded information in a simple melody, without any instrumental accompaniment. What I have done, in reinterpretation, is to introduce three instruments while retaining the original vocal melody as recorded by Thomas. In my creative rationalization, a terse texture will still clear the path for the logogenic melody, without masking the message.

The instruments:

Óké ōgénè mkpị̀ n’ábọ̀ (male twin clapperless bells)melo-rhythmic
Nwúnyè ōgénè mkpị̀ n’ábọ̀ (female twin clapperless bells)time referent
Ọ́yọ̀ (pebble-filled basket rattles)rhythmic

Égwú – percussion and flute instrumental, Agulu, 1911 (#448)

Original N. W. Thomas recording of percussion and flute instrumental, Agulu, present-day Anambra State, Nigeria, 14 February 1911. (NWT 448; BL C51/2697.)
Ikenna Onwuegbuna’s contemporary reworking of the recording, 2019.
Ikenna Onwuegbuna discusses Thomas’ recording no.448 and his approach to reworking it. In conversation with Paul Basu.

In titling this instrumental dance music, I settled for the generic term, Égwú, which not only could translate to music, but also means song, dance, drama, banter, festival, and games. Since it is an instrumental style, I could not think of a better title. As the rhythmic complexity can be felt in a consortium of percussion instruments, the resultant groove provides a soundscape to support and project the emotional dynamics of the melodic instruments. To further deepen the already dense texture of the original recording by Thomas, I introduced a pentatonic-tuned xylophone that occasionally breaks the dominance of the flute melody.

The featured instruments in my edition include:

Ọ̀jà (notched end-blown flute)instrumental melody
Ngédégwū (xylophone)instrumental melody
Ọ́kwá (double-slab xylophone)melo-rhythmic
Ị̀gbà (membrane drum)melo-rhythmic
Ékpílí (pod rattles)time referent/rhythmic
Ùdù (pot drum)pulse marker
Ị̄chākā (beaded gourd rattles)rhythmic
Ọ́kpọ́kọ́lọ́ (wooden claves)time referent
Ōgénè (clapperless bells)rhythmic
Ékwé (wooden slit-drum)rhythmic
Ọ́yọ̀ (pebble-filled basket rattles)rhythmic
Wooden clappersrhythmic

Cultural loss and revival

by Ikenna Onwuegbuna

This ethnomusicological re-engagement with the sound archive has provided an opportunity to peep into the history of the Awka people, with a view to ascertaining the nature and features of their music, including their compositional practices and performance techniques. It enables us to reflect on continuities and changes in the phenomenon of folk artistry.

Reflecting on the historical recordings, it is clear that the only phenomenon that is permanent is change. Igbo society is undergoing rapid changes due to the influence of globalization on its cultural institutions and practices. This is a consequence of the history of European colonialism in the region and especially the incursion of foreign religion that caused a great change from Igbo traditional religion to Christianity.

For a few decades now, there has been growing consciousness of the importance of cultural revival. Against the background of massive loss of cultural heritage, this cultural revivalist movement has been making slow but steady progress. The effort to conserve what can be conserved, to resuscitate what is almost dead, and to change the mentality of the people about their culture is an ongoing process in Nigeria.

In order to rework the historical sound recordings made by Northcote Thomas during his anthropological surveys one must couple a forensic approach to analysing the originals with an in-depth knowledge of the cultural, linguistic and musicological context. Recreating the full sonic experience using modern studio techniques allows us to recover a musical heritage, which the limitations of Thomas’s wax cylinder phonograph could not capture.

This becomes a significant service to the survival of cultural diversity and to the cultural identity of the Igbo people. This is not merely a matter of historical interest. The musical performances that Thomas recorded in the Awka District in 1910-11 are full of inspirational materials that can be adapted by composers of African popular and art music for their original compositions. They provide resource materials for creative artists in humanities, social sciences and beyond. All these could be harnessed for cultural diversity, advancement and socio-economic development.


Thank you Ikenna for your inspirational work with a small selection of Thomas’s recordings, pointing towards the huge potential of the wider collection. Thanks also to British Library Sounds for providing access to the digitized recordings and a small grant to help facilitate this re-engagement work.

Panoramic photography and photographic excess

Northcote Thomas panoramic photograph, Nigeria 1910-13
Panoramic photograph made by N. W. Thomas using the Kodak No.1 Panoram camera, Nigeria, 1910-13. Print from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, P.39431.

Northcote Thomas used a number of different cameras during his four anthropological surveys in West Africa between 1909 and 1915. During his first tour, in Edo-speaking areas of Nigeria, his equipment list included a Hunter & Sands Tropical camera and a Goerz camera. On his three subsequent tours, in Igbo-speaking areas of Nigeria and in Sierra Leone, however, his photographic kit included three cameras: an Adams Videx camera, a Stereoscopic camera, and a Kodak Panoram camera. The majority of Thomas’s photographs were taken on quarter plate glass negatives on the Videx, but it is clear that Thomas experimented with both stereoscopic photography, also using quarter plates, and panoramic shots using the Kodak Panoram, which used 105 format roll film.

Through the [Re:]Entanglements project, we have been systematically digitising all of N. W. Thomas’s photographic negatives and prints with our partners at the Royal Anthropological Institute and University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology. Until recently, we believed that only Thomas’s quarter plate glass negatives and corresponding prints had survived. However, we were excited to discover quite a number of his panoramic prints in the collections in the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology. On a recent research visit to the National Museum in Lagos, Nigeria, we were also delighted to find a number of these panoramic prints mounted in one of the photograph albums produced during Thomas’s surveys.

Northcote Thomas photograph album in National Museum, Lagos collection
Page of panoramic photographs from one of the albums produced during N. W. Thomas’s anthropological surveys in Southern Nigeria. Originally deposited in the Colonial Secretariat in Lagos, the albums are now in the care of the National Museum, Lagos.

The Kodak No.1 Panoram camera, which Thomas used, was manufactured between 1900 and 1926. The camera had a swinging lens, which took 3.5 x 12 inch exposures across a 112 degree arc on 105 film stock. An advertisement of the time asserts that ‘The pictures taken by these instruments have a breadth and beauty not attainable with the ordinary camera. The wide scope of view makes the Panoram excellent for taking landscapes, as it can cover a wide area without the distortion incident to the use of wide angle lenses’. There is an excellent article on the Kodak No.1 Panoram at Mike Eckman Dot Com.

Kodak No.1 Panoram camera
Kodak No.1 Panoram camera. The picture on the right shows a close-up of the Panoram’s ‘swing lens’, which turned 120 degrees when the shutter was released.

The more we explore Northcote Thomas’s fieldwork photography, the more we learn how innovative he was for the time. For example, during his 1910-11 tour in what was then Awka District, he experimented with using two cameras simultaneously to photograph a scene from different angles. This technique would, of course, become an important technique in cinematography. (The earliest known example of a two-camera set up in cinema was the 1911 Russian film Defence of Sevastopol.) In the example here, we can see that Thomas and his assistants simultaneously photographed what is described as the Ogugu ceremony at Agulu, south of Awka, using both the Adams Videx and Kodak Panoram cameras.

Ogugu ceremony, Agulu, Nigeria. Photograph by Northcote Thomas, 1910-11.
Ogugu ceremony, Agulu, Southern Nigeria. Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1910-11 onto quarter plate glass negative using the Adams Videx camera. Print from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, P.30566 (NWT 2170).

In the resultant sequences of photographs there is a further intrigue, which speaks of the ‘excess’ of the photographic image, and particularly the peripheral presences that creep into the frame without the photographer’s awareness. Of over 7,000 photographs in the archive, there are perhaps only three or four that intentionally show something of the process of Thomas’s anthropological survey work. It is only through this photographic excess that we catch glimpses of the endeavor.

To date, then, the only photographs we have seen in which we glimpse Northcote Thomas behind the camera are the reverse shots of the Ogugu ceremony at Agulu taken by one of his assistants on the Kodak Panoram. In the background of the panoramic shot we see Thomas stood behind the tripod mopping his brow together with three of his assistants and items of his kit strewn around. A rare insight into the anthropologist-photographer at work.

Ogugu ceremony, Agulu, Nigeria. Northcote Thomas in background behind camera, 1910-11.
Ogugu ceremony, Agulu, Southern Nigeria. ‘Reverse angle’, photographed by one of Thomas’s assistants in 1910-11 using the Kodak Panoram camera. Note Thomas, behind the camera tripod, and assistants caught in the background (see detail). Print from the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, P.39450.