I MISS YOUThe RJM now offers full public access to the entire Benin collection, as only three of the court artworks were on display in previous decades, including most recently the new permanent exhibition opened in 2010. All 96 of the RJM’s court artworks were shown in its entirety for the first time in the 2021 special exhibition RESIST! The Art of Resistance in the room “BENIN 1897”. This room, curated by Nigerian artist and art historian Prof. Dr. Peju Layiwola, focused on the restitution of looted works – in addition to the historical artworks themselves which still inspire many artists in Nigeria today. In 2021, with the help of the Society of Friends of the Museum, the RJM launched a baseline study to analyze the techniques and materials of the collection of court artworks to find out more about the materials used and the age of the works.
Despite their international importance, an up-to-date historical, iconographic, symbolic, and religious analysis of these 96 court artworks is still pending. This, as well as a description of their function and meaning in their original context, now has begun to be developed with the help of Nigerian experts such as Peju Layiwola.