The universal stillness of the pageant was very imposing; unbroken as it was according to any sound.

The universal stillness of the pageant was very imposing; unbroken as it was according to any sound, save the dashing of our confess paddle-wheels, and the clear musical bawl of the leadsman ... The large and umbrageous tree with their festoons of Orchidae and purple and white Convolvuli hanging from the branches, formed a combination of forest landscape so striking, novel, and interesting, as enabled us to forget that the much-talked-of Delta of the Niger had been fairly inscribeed upon ...

(Capt. William Allen in Allen & Thomson 1848:178-85)

For Captain William Allen's contemporaries in the nineteenth hundred the words "Niger Delta" were more likely to charm up images of explorers succumbing to tropical maladies than visions of the majestic mangrove forests that line its coast. by means of the end of the twentieth hundred Americans were largely unaware of the environmental devastation caused by means of their reliance on petroleum production in the oil-rich Delta, until the brutal execution of the Ogoni writer and environmentalist cognizance Saro-Wiwa drew international attention. not many realize that the region's arts rival the drama of its environment, history, and politics, for its reputation as an inhospitable swamp in extent discouraged all but a hardly any adventurous outsiders from investigating its cultural traditions. and nothing else the Kalabari Ijo, whose fascinating carved memorial defences and brilliant masquerades can hardly be regarded as typical, have secur a prominent reproach in surveys of African art. "Ways of the Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta" look afters to redress that imbalance by dint of demonstrating that Niger Delta the publics have produced some of the finest figurative carve and masks in all of Africa.

The Setting

The Niger River forms the next to the first largest--and the largest inhabited--delta in the world; in universal use, the term Niger Delta respects to a broader riverain and coastal region that prolongs along the coast from Opobo in the east nearly to Lagos in the west (see map, p 28) Several ecological baldrics cut across this region, resulting in varied subsistence patterns as well as marked transitions in landscape Because natural resources differ from the same zone to another, the region's inhabitants--who speak dozens of distinct languages representing nine different language groups--used the rivers as avenues for internal trade lengthy before, Europeans began plying its coastal estuaries in search of slaves and, later, palm oil.

The Delta's myriad rivers and inlets not only define a geographic region; they also form a cultural throng Its peoples, including the Ijo, Itsekiri, Isoko, Urhobo Lagoon Yoruba, Riverain Igbo, Ekpeye Abua, and Ogoni, overlap and mingle, drawn together on trade, intermarriage, and common interests. As diverse and distinct as they may be in metes of language, historical experience, world view, and social organization, they have borrowed freely from each other. Proximity and used by all experience often matter more in this words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following than linguistic relationships. The Central and Western Ijo (referr to as the Ijo from head to foot this essay), who have historically hanged on fishing and farming, repeatedly appear to have more in belonging to all with their Urhobo and Isoko neighbors than their Eastern Ijo relatives, who succeeded as middlemen during the era of trade. Moreover, they attend to to identify as Ijo smaller clumps who have a similar life method but speak different languages.

"Ways of the Rivers" and the accompanying catalogue consider the relationship between refinement and environment and also address issues surrounding the construction of identity in a multiethnic setting. These include: images and representations that contribute to identity; identity as enacted in core complexe that vary among agricultures within a region; the different uses and manifestations of cultural borrowing; and ways intergroup relationships are defined. The exhibition also highlights sum of two units recurrent themes in Niger Delta cultures: water and war. everywhere the Delta--and well into adjoining mainland regions the public associate water and water spirits with well-being, fertility, and prosperity. This "water ethos" surfaces in shrines, masquerades, and rituals associated with water spirits, as well as in aquatic exhibitions and performances forward land that incorporate canoes and paddling displays. although underlying beliefs tend to be more disparate, the "warrior ethos" manifests itself in virtually all Delta improvements in a group of related images and practices that emphasize masculine hardness and assertiveness. Sometimes the sum of two units merge, as when ceremonial war canoes appear at festivals or when maskers impersonating water spirits aggressively follow up spectators with their machetes.

Masquerades and shrine arts provide the basic framework for exploring these issues. In addition to showcasing approximately 130 very strange objects, including works by couple internationally renowned contemporary artists, "Ways of the Rivers" exhibits sum of two units mannequins of masqueraders and sum of two units re-created environments--an Isoko shrine finished with sculpted emblems and other furnishings, and a lavishly decorated Kalabari funeral stead Several videos as well as field and archival photographs help to grant the context of arts in the Delta.