For the third year running, the annual art exhibition tagged Traces of Time, which is also the theme of this year’s Calabar Carnival, complements Africa’s biggest street party, which held throughout December featuring vibrant parades, elaborate costumes, music, and dance. Like the carnival, Traces of Time is also showcasing Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage through the eyes of some visual artists. The exhibition, with the theme Identity, was held at the Calabar National Old Residency, Museum Exhibition Hall, Calabar, Cross River State, between December 1 and 30. It was organised by Paris-based curator, Bose Fagbemi in partnership with Cross River State Carnival Commission headed by Sir Gabe Onah. The exhibitors are a mix-pack of old and young artists with diverse backgrounds and styles. The artists include Prof Best Ochigbo, a professor of painting, Edosa Ogiugo, a Lagos-based visual artist, Godfrey Ichile Mashiga, a ceramist, and Octogenarian Princess Elisabeth Ekong Okon, a textile artist whose works are derived from tradition and ancient philosophy like the nsibidi motifs.
Princess Okon’s collection is a product of her Mbufari concept she initiated in the 80s with the introduction of creative patterns into traditional table covers for cultural events. The Mbufari Concept was birthed by multiple pieces of waste fabric found in her tailoring shop, rather than put the pieces to waste. They were converted to a series of patterns stitched together like the coat of many colors.
Mbufari is commonly used for events like traditional marriage, table covers, chewing stick bags, etc. Her designs have evolved over the years and modified into other functions like dining table covers, throw pillows, bed covers, bags, and interior decorations.
One of her works, The family dining cover shows dominant triangles in this concept represent traditional symbols of fire (upward triangles) and water (downward triangles). These two form part of the fundamental elements in tradition and ancient nsibidi philosophy. The shapes culminate and transform the qualities of water (life) and fire (passion) into the conceptual mbufari design suitable for a family dining table cover. All the colours are carefully selected to represent the values of the family. From Red, which symbolises shared love and passion, Yellow, meaning happiness/sunshine, and dominant dark blue, which envelops the design as a symbol of authority, boldness and wisdom.
Interestingly, Prof. Best Ochigbo has more works than other exhibiting artists. His works include Calabar/Nwanniba waterways, The return of fisherman, Carnival, A long way to go, Reclining figure, The mind, Landscape, and The politician.
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One of the leading fine artists in Lagos, Edosa Ogiugo in his piece on Benin Art, interrogates the impact of the British incursion of Benin Empire on the wives, citing Queen Mother Idia as symbolic of ‘emotional connection – Queens of loyalty.’ His presentation explores loyalty, displacement, feminine strength, and the preservation of culture.
He stated that at the close of the Benin Empire’s golden era, Queen Idia’s story shines as a beacon of courage, intelligence, and mystical prowess. “Her Image—marked with intricate patterns and calm authority became a lasting symbol of devotion to king and kingdom. Generations later, her legacy seemed to echo through two lesser-known women, Queens Egbe and Aighobahi, the wives of Oba Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.
“When Oba Ovonramwen was captured and exiled by the British in 1897, his household scattered. But Egbe and Aighobahi chose loyalty over comfort following the Oba into exile, away from Benin’s rituals and the warm coral glow. They carried the weight of empire, memory, and love into foreign lands, their devotion evoking the spirit of Queen Idia’s legendary heroism.
He noted that within them is a lineage of womanhood, defined by strength and quiet resilience—a deep emotional undercurrent beneath the history we record. But worried that their names are rarely mentioned, their sacrifices often forgotten, yet art and storytelling could and would revive their legacy as a powerful portrait of loyalty triumphing over erasure.
Describing the famous Queen Idia Head, Ogiugo who showed two works (Charcoal and pastel and Queen’s loyalty) at the exhibition, said the elaborate hairstyles and coral beads worn by Benin women—braided crowns, ivory combs, and ivie strands—are imbued with meaning. ‘They symbolise identity, ancestry, and spiritual protection. Coral, drawn from the sea, stands for purity and an ancestral link; carefully sculpted hair reflects order, beauty, and discipline—outer signs of inner strength.
‘Through this painterly series of mine, the Benin woman serves as muse and messenger—keeper of memory and emblem of resilience. Art gives voice to what history set aside, honouring the indomitable women who loved, endured, and carried their culture through me and loss.’
Godfrey Ichile Mashiga, a ceramist featured some works such as Bound flight, Fortitude of irony, Echoes of time, Face of passion, Ascending passion, Surface of attraction, Agbada of war, Never ending saga and She who remains
One of Mashiga’s works, Fortitude of Irony, is a layered and eloquent ceramics visually captivating yet conceptually unsettling.
The intricately coil-pressed oval form, supported by two stylised hands bound in chains, becomes an embodiment of strength trapped within contradiction. Set upon an open book base, this piece reads like a silent sermon on the struggles of enlightenment, knowledge, and agency in a system rife with paradox.
According to the artist, in Nigerian context, the work becomes deeply resonant, while the bound hands, symbols of both strength and subjugation suggest the persistent entanglement of potential with systemic oppression. The oval form, balanced delicately, speaks of endurance and fragility, perhaps alluding to the nation’s repeated cycles of hope and disillusionment.
‘The open book is especially poignant: a symbol of education, truth, and clarity yet in this composition, it also represents how these ideals are often weighed down or rendered symbolic rather than functional. The use of bisque fired ceramic, combined with vivid acrylic hues and sealed
with resin, reflects a tension between rawness and polish, struggle and presentation further deepening the ironic undertones.
‘Through this piece, the artist critiques the performative strength demanded of individuals in a fractured society. Fortitude of Irony forces us to reflect on how resilience, though admirable, is often romanticized at the expense of genuine liberation. It is not just a ceramic piece, it is a statement. A mirror held up to a society where irony has become both a survival tool and a silent scream,’ he said.
In the foreword to the exhibition brochure, Prof Ochigbo observed that the artist ensemble reveals that visual culture always has a history behind it, noting that the works can be described as timeless visualisations of ideas that project narratives on Nigeria’s cultural tapestry and utopias associated with them.
“The artist, in evolving the memory of spatial imagery in a montage of temporalities, ushers in ideas of the future in the present. The works in this exhibition clearly portray the artists as a group that do not perceive reality as a natural state. Their individuality, style, technique, and mediums of exploration stand them out as artists with ideological differences encapsulating invisible traces that succeed in visible themes with clearly explored passage of me as seen in this exhibition that is tied to the Calabar Carnival.
“The seasonal Carnival leaves footprints in the sands of time. The exhibition “Traces of Time” leaves behind memories of artistic landmarks revealing distinct ideological identities of the artists with their unique styles, and signature techniques. This identity reflects each exhibiting artist’s creative voice giving verve to the Traces of Time art
exhibition as a brand. It is this brand that gives the artists a purpose, direction and platform to showcase their creative oeuvres,” he added.
