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This is by no means an exhaustive study and mapping of the Igbo artforms uli and mbari. This is the product of my research on uli and mbari during the Summer of 2022 as a part of my undergraduate studies at Swarthmore College, graciously funded by the Petrucci Family Foundation Summer Research Grant in Black Studies. The title of my project is "The Transformation of Indigenous Igbo Artforms," and my main objectives were to figure out how internal and external forces have shaped uli and mbari and explore and critique the gender and power dynamics of researchers and artists and the temporality of both forms.

Because research is inextricably linked to the researcher, I must state my identities which shaped and formed my work: I am a Black, queer, 1st generation Nigerian. Igbo is one of my ethnicities. I have grown up in the West, specifically America, and I am not fluent in Igbo. Therefore, I placed a particular emphasis on looking at gender dynamics. All of the materials I've found (except for one) are in English, my main language as of now. My point of access to restricted, non-open access materials is limited to whatever documents, publications, etc. that Swarthmore College has access to.

My main goal in creating this timeline is to make an open access, publicly available, living archive of my research on Igbo artforms, and I especially hope that this timeline is useful to other folks who are a part of the Igbo Diaspora.

All images, videos, and photographs are not mine, and belong to their respective owners.

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Igbo= language
Igbo= a Nigerian ethnicity
The/An Igbo= the people

The Igbo "live in the Southeastern part of Nigeria notably, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Abia states, and some parts of Rivers and Delta state” (Nwafor 2019:120).

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Uli is an Indigenous Igbo line artform created by Igbo women that is done on the body and on walls. Uli is typically done on the bodies of girls and women as beautification and as an indication of a rite of passage (from girlhood to womanhood). Juice from different fruits are used to make the liquid that is then applied to various parts of the body such as the face, the stomach, or the legs. Uli is often done on walls as a mural to commemorate cultural events such as indigenous festivals, or done on houses to signify that a person has taken on a new title. Uli done on the body is usually the work of one woman, while uli on murals is done by a community of women.

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Mbari is an Indigenous Igbo ritual process of building a structure as an offering for a God(s). There are so many rituals and sacrifices that happen before people officially begin to build mbari, during the building process and after the building process! Usually what happens is some type of misfortune or disaster befalls a place, and the people consult a diviner (dibia) on the situation. The diviner works out which god or gods are angry with the people, and then elders and other important people decide that mbari for that god(s) should be built. The town and its villages go into a sanctioned period of peace that is to last the duration of the construction of the mbari, and the diviner picks out at least twenty people to build the mbari from all of the different lineages of the villages. These people are referred to as Nde Mgbe and under the guidance of a professional artist, build the mbari over a period of at least one year. Even though the mbari is for a main god other gods are present. Mbari is most often made for Ala, the earth goddess, but can also be made for/feature Amadioha (Ala's husband and the god of lightning and thunder), Mami Wata, and Otamiri and Ekwunoche (river deities) and many other deities. Mbari also features a lot of animals, some of which are messengers for certain gods (such as Ajụ-Ala (python) and Enwe (monkey) who are messengers for Ala). Mbari is also a snapshot of whatever the current social situation is, when the British came, white people also were sculpted as part of mbari. There's also day to day life that is depicted, mothers with their children, husbands and wives, etc. Half-human half-animal sculptures are often warnings/signs of what will happen if one goes against cultural values and is lazy, foolish, or irresponsible. Mbari is seen by all members of a community including children, so there is an instructive aspect to it-it's a display of cultural values, taboos, etc.

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1900: EuroAmericans flock to Nigeria to study and document Uli and Mbari

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1900: EuroAmericans flock to Nigeria to study and document Uli and Mbari

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A. A. Whitehouse, a British anthropologist, who did fieldwork in the early 1900s (on behalf of the British colonial project), is often is referred to as the first EuroAmerican person who studied mbari.  In his article, Note on the "Mbari" Festival of the Natives of the Ibo Country, S. Nigeria, he briefly analyzes a few mbari sculptures to the best of his ability, but deep, critical analysis of mbari is not to be published in academia until the 1960s.

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Photo taken by Northcote from 1909 - 1913. https://collections.maa.cam.ac.uk/photographs/324616

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British anthropologist Northcote (N. W.) Thomas is generally regarded as the first Euro-American to do fieldwork on uli. His vast collection of photographs from the 1910s for the British colonial project are the main archive that contemporary uli researchers draw from. His photographs are primarily of Igbo people and their cultural artifacts from all over Igboland, the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.

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1930s: A. S. Arnot on racial dynamics between her and Igbo women

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1930s: A. S. Arnot on racial dynamics between her and Igbo women

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Power dynamics in the research of Igbo art by non-Igbo (and Euro-American) people are first briefly touched on by A. S. Arnot, a Euro-American woman whose primary goal was to collect uli drawings in her interactions with Igbo women from the Arochukwu region of Nigeria in the mid 1900s.

There is a sense of urgency to preserve uli motifs that she, and many other Euro-Americans of the early-to-mid 1900s share. In her article Uri Body Painting And Aro Embroidery she remarked, “It seemed a pity that these old designs should be lost…As we of the Mission in Arochuku became better acquainted with the women, we began to collect designs. There were difficulties : they wanted to know what the white women wanted with these drawings : also they were afraid, for many of the designs had some old tribal significance. It was not till some years had passed and we all knew each other much better that we got them to put the designs on paper” (134).

Arnot, like other Euro-American anthropologists, is more concerned on her desire of getting uli drawings fulfilled than respecting the sacred use of some of the designs. The end justifies the means (which is befriend the people whom you wish to take from).

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1936: Picture of Igbo women getting uli, taken by D. R. Rosevear

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1936: Picture of Igbo women getting uli, taken by D. R. Rosevear

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1920-1950: More Euro-Americans begin to study, document, and publish on Uli and Mbari.

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1920-1950: More Euro-Americans begin to study, document, and publish on Uli and Mbari.

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Other prominent Euro-American anthropologists that came after Whitehouse and Northcote are G.T. Basden in the1920s, K.C. Murray in the 1930s, G.I. Jones in the 1930s-1940s, and M.D.W. Jeffreys in the 1950s. (Okeke-Agulu 2016: 30; Basu 2016).

There is very little discussion in their work about the cosmologies that inform the various hairstyles, body painting, mural painting, etc. of Igbo people. Rather, their focus is to visually capture as many photographs of Igbo people and Igbo cultural artifacts as they can.

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Abeokuta, Nigeria: Possibly Susan Wenger and Uli Beier Accompanied by Children. Photographer: Turner, Lorenzo Dow, 1890-1972. Smithsonian Institution Archive.

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1950-1960: Ulli Beier, a German scholar, comes to Nigeria to teach at the University of Ibadan

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1950-1960: Ulli Beier, a German scholar, comes to Nigeria to teach at the University of Ibadan

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Beier soon finds himself fascinated and immersed in the Nigerian art scene. He begins to do research on Nigeria art forms, with a particular interest in uli.

He begins to run workshops that teach European art techniques such as printmaking to Nigerian artists

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Field Work in Abeokuta, Western Region (Nigeria): Possibly Susan Wenger and Uli Beier Accompanied by Children | Smithsonian Institution

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There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

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Oct 1 1960: Nigeria gains independence from the British 

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Oct 1 1960: Nigeria gains independence from the British 

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1961: Ben Enwonwu, a Nigerian artist and scholar, establishes the University of Nigeria Nsukka's fine and applied arts department

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1961: Ben Enwonwu, a Nigerian artist and scholar, establishes the University of Nigeria Nsukka's fine and applied arts department

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1960s: The Fine Arts Department, which comes to be known as the Nsukka school, led by Uche Okeke, begin to synthesize traditional uli with European art techniques

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1960s: The Fine Arts Department, which comes to be known as the Nsukka school, led by Uche Okeke, begin to synthesize traditional uli with European art techniques

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March 1961: Ulli Beier and other Nigerian visual artists and writers open the Mbari Club in Ibadan, Nigeria

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March 1961: Ulli Beier and other Nigerian visual artists and writers open the Mbari Club in Ibadan, Nigeria

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Membership is made up of African men and is virtually male-only. It is also elitist: only "intellectual" artists are a part of the membership. This is despite the claim that “in naming the club after Igbo mbari, its core members clearly wished to situate their work, even if only rhetorically and philosophically, within the paradigm of communal rather than elitist art practice” (Okeke-Agulu 2014:150).

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1962: Mbari-Mbayo Club is opened in Osogbo, Nigeria

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1962: Mbari-Mbayo Club is opened in Osogbo, Nigeria

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The driving force behind this branch of the Mbari Club is Duro Ladipo, a Yoruba actor who soon becomes a celebrated Nigerian playwright and dramatist. There is less emphasis on Western art and academia in this branch.

Unlike the Mbari Club in Ibadan, "Mbari-Mbayo" does NOT come from the Igbo mbari, rather it comes from "the Yoruba statement mbari mbayo, which means, “if I see, I will be happy”.” (Nwafor 2020:62).

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Herbert M. Cole, an American anthropologist did fieldwork among Owerri Igbo peoples from October 1966 to July 1967. He then published several articles on his research that culminated into his 1982 book Mbari, art and life among the Owerri Igbo which was published by Indiana University Press.

From looking at rituals that happen before, during, and after building mbari to analysis of tools for mbari to analyzing mbari sculptures- he is regarded as the scholar who has published the most extensive scholarship on mbari. The tone he takes in his scholarship is often individualist, paternalistic, entitled, and patronizing- this is not specific to him; this is a commonality of Euro-American scholarship on Africa both before Cole's time and after his time.

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1966: Ulli Beier and his wife leave Nigeria 

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1966: Ulli Beier and his wife leave Nigeria 

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1967: The Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, begins

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1967: The Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, begins

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1971-1986: many theses for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka are written on uli 

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1971-1986: many theses for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka are written on uli 

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1997: Simon Ottenberg publishes New traditions from Nigeria : seven artists of the Nsukka group

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1997: Simon Ottenberg publishes New traditions from Nigeria : seven artists of the Nsukka group

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Ottenberg is an American anthropologist who received funding from the Smithsonian Institute to do research on uli artists from Nigeria.

The seven artists that he highlights are Uche Okeke, Chike Aniakor, Obiora Udechukwu, El Anatsui, Olu Oguibe, Tayo Adenaike, and Ada Udechukwu.

This book is one of two products of his research.

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1997-1998: Ottenberg's exhibition Poetics of Line: Seven Artists of the Nsuka Group, Nigeria is on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

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1997-1998: Ottenberg's exhibition Poetics of Line: Seven Artists of the Nsuka Group, Nigeria is on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

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The dates of the exhibition are October 22, 1997–April 26, 1998. This is the second product of Ottenberg's research in Nigeria, and this is the infamous exhibition that shaped how Western scholarship (and the West overall) thought about the Nigerian art landscape in relation to uli.

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As teachers, former students, or both, the seven artists represented here share an association with the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in southeastern Nigeria. They form part of a larger number of artists whose lives and work share enough unity to refer to them as the Nsukka group. A system of traditional Igbo designs and styles known as uli permeates their images and unifies their art.

Each artist is presented separately, with works on paper exhibited on one side of the gallery and other forms of art on the opposite side. Four major themes resonate throughout the works. Images drawn from traditional Igbo life and culture--including tales, myths, spiritual figures, minstrels, dances, masquerades, and rituals--define the first theme. In the second are comments on current social, political, and economic conditions in Nigeria, a country that since achieving its independence in 1960 has experienced only a few years of democratic government. Nature, weather, and the landscape provide scenes of majestic drama and beauty in Nigeria and infuse the third theme. Expressions of personal feelings and close social relationships fill the fourth theme. Each Nsukka artist emphasizes one or more themes and draws from uli aesthetics in a personal way.

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As teachers, former students, or both, the seven artists represented here share an association with the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in southeastern Nigeria. They form part of a larger number of artists whose lives and work share enough unity to refer to them as the Nsukka group.

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1998: Obiora Udechukwu does an art installation at Dartmouth College called 'The House of Truth'

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1998: Obiora Udechukwu does an art installation at Dartmouth College called 'The House of Truth'

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Fellow Nsukka artist Chika Okeke-Agulu refers to this installation as reinterpreting "uli as an architectural art" (Okeke-Agulu 1988:47). The House of Truth was a physical structure that consisted of one room with murals on the outside and inside of it. Udechukwu did half of the exterior, Okeke-Agulu did the other half. The interior was done by five Dartmouth students who were given full creative freedom on the design patterns for the interior murals. Visitors were directed to write whatever they liked on sheets of colored paper and put them up around the structure.

Udechukwu also incorporated mbari into his installment: "Rather than opening to a viewing public, its completion, it realization depended on the acts of that very public...There were no viewers, only participants. And in this sense, it comes closer to an Mbari event in which the dedicatory rituals and festivities following the completion of the building process are as much a part of the process of creating the monument to the earth goddess as they are a culmination of same” (Okeke-Agulu 1988:50).

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2000: Nkiru Nzegwu, a Nigerian scholar and professor, writes a magnificent critique of Ottenberg's exhibition

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2000: Nkiru Nzegwu, a Nigerian scholar and professor, writes a magnificent critique of Ottenberg's exhibition

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This occurred in her paper "Crossing Boundaries: Gender Transmogrification of African Art History," which was published by UCLA as a part of UCLA's Occasional Paper Series.

How did a retired, white anthropologist whose area of study was not Nigerian art end up curating an exhibition on Nigerian art?

Professor Nzegwu reveals Ottenberg to be woefully unqualified to have been the curator of an exhibition on Nigerian art and delves into the different power structures (namely imperialism, racism, and sexism) that allowed him (in fact, paid him) to curate such a show. She also gets into the nitty-gritty of discussing the history of American anthropology and how it perpetuates imperialism, racism, and sexism and misconstrues the realities of those in the Global South. Professor Nzegwu also critiques the artists whom Ottenberg chose to highlight, all of which (except for one) are men. Ottenberg chose men who worked with uli, but these Nigerian male artists moved uli out of the realm of the communal (and woman-specific) into the ivory tower, and some of their artwork have been considered to be of poor technical quality.

Additionally, Olu Oguibe, one of the artists in the exhibition, had explicitly rejected the label of an "uli artist," and Ottenberg ignored this and included him anyway.

Professor Nzegwu also reveals that Ada Udechukwu, the woman who Ottenberg includes isn't even an artist, she did a few sketches utilizing uli, but she is mainly a poet. Ottenberg included her because he was instructed to by the director of the National Museum of African Art and because Udechukwu represents what "a proper woman" should be, she is a good wife that tends to her home, husband, and children and she is modest/reserved. There were also racial politics at play. Since Ada Udechukwu is biracial, Ottenberg thought that she would be more appealing to an American audience.

Professor Nzegwu personally asked Ottenberg why he did not include Ndidi Onyemaechi Dike and/or Chinwe Uwatse, two contemporary Nigerian women who work with uli and are quite successful multidisciplinary artists. Ottenberg's reply is that he did not personally like their art.

Professor Nzegwu digs into the deep sexism within his statement and how his curation is especially dangerous: the U.S. audience misses learning the subversive counter-dictatorship strategies of uli, its politics of gender, its activation of history, its indeterminacy and transformatory potentials, its metaphysical dimensions, and its relationship to memory” (Nzegwu 2000:33; emphasis mine).

She ends her paper with remarks that curators from the First World should think critically about and interrogate their desires to curate exhibitions on the Global South.

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2005: Sarah Adams, a Euro-American anthropologist, publishes a paper on traditional uli painting as done by Igbo women

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2005: Sarah Adams, a Euro-American anthropologist, publishes a paper on traditional uli painting as done by Igbo women

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This paper is titled "People Have Three Eyes: Ephemeral Art and the Archive in Southeastern Nigeria."

Adams has been researching uli since 1992.

Adams critiques the field of art history for its over-emphasis on physical objects: “In studies of ephemeral African art, however, the insistent presence of physical archives of objects at once obscures the loss, silence, and absence they contain, and threatens to obscure the role of the exterior, intangible archive of knowledge as a corrective to this loss. The overwhelming focus on object-driven modes of art memory in the scholarship on ephemeral African art also throws into relief a troubling, asymmetrical theoretical relationship between the wider field of art history and the comparatively young field of African art studies” (Adams 2005:11-12).

She also digs into the power dynamics of The Pitts River Museum housing Nigerian art artifacts. The Pitts River Museum is in the UK, and has the largest collection of uli drawings and tools related to uli. Despite its wide array, the information that it gives on the specific individuals behind artwork is incomplete or vague, referring mainly to regions and not individual people. This enables the Pitts Rive Museum is able to dominate and silence Igbo artists.

Adams is the first Euro-American to delve into the power dynamics of uli as transferred from Igbo women to Igbo men in academia. She profiles Mgbadunnwa Okanumee, a traditional uli artist from Nnobi, whose work has international acclaim and deeply influenced the "Nsukka school" (University of Nsukka, Nigeria art department). Despite her influence on the Nsukka school, Adams remarks that “her work is also used as a mere footnote to the Nsukka artists' project” (Adams 2005:25).

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2005: Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, a Nigerian Professor of Art History, troubles ideas of temporality and historical specificity in the field of art history 

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2005: Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, a Nigerian Professor of Art History, troubles ideas of temporality and historical specificity in the field of art history 

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Sylvester Ogbechie's paper "The Historical Life of Objects African Art History and the Problem of Discursive Obsolescence" is guided by the question "If iconic objects assume different forms and meanings in different historical periods, how do these changes affect scholarly interpretation of the objects and of the archives that narrate their historically specific meanings?” (Ogbechie 2005:62).

His main art of study for the paper is mbari. Ogbechie remarks that since photographs are the only representations of mbari in art history, this freezes the meaning and significance of mbari to very particular points in time. This takes the art object out of its cultural temporal framework and into the Western academic temporal framework.

Ogbechie remarks that this change in temporary framework is further intensified by Western scholarship's focus on physical art objects instead of the knowledge systems that that object is embedded in and a product of. In fact, the over-emphasis on the physical art object can very well go against the cultural "rules" for the phasing out/destruction of the art object, such as mbari: “Mbari unfolds mainly as a fluid process whose meanings lie in the performative context of ritual rather than the constructed edifice…If the goal of Mbari was to provide a cultural experience in which impermanent forms are deployed in the service of complex narratives, of what use are the objects that remain when this primary process is completed?” (66; emphasis mine) There is no use and no place for completed mbari to stand for all eternity in Igbo cosmologies and temporalities. It is thus a disservice to render this impermanent artform permanent in Western art history.

Ogebechie  asserts that African art history still privileges the canon that emerged from ethnographic inscriptions, which is ahistorical. It is from this canon that inaccurate conceptualizations of African art are drawn. This canon can be re-engaged in new, productive ways by applying "indigenous knowledge systems to their interpretation" (Ogbechie 2005:69).

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2009: Nigerian Professor J.O.J. Nwachukwu-Agbada begins publishing works on mbari

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2009: Nigerian Professor J.O.J. Nwachukwu-Agbada begins publishing works on mbari

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Although his works are no means as extensive as Herbert Cole's publications on mbari, they are by far much richer and more detailed.

He gives the specific life-span of man-made materials for mbari made after colonization: 30+ years as contrasted with the 4-6 year lifespan of mbari made with "traditional roofing palm mats whose walls used to be of ekwe-achara (Indian bamboo)” (Agbada 2009:152).

He also describes the daily rituals and habits of Nde Mgbe, mbari workers and the relationship between the Igbo deities Ala (earth goddess) and Amadioha (Ala's husband and god of thunder and justice) and their domains.

Agbada makes a brief commentary on the validity of different Euro-American perspectives on mbari. G. T. Basden's conclusion that the non-god figures in mbari are insignificant and incidental is wrong, while Cole's extensive research leads him to the right conclusion that there is significance and value in all of the figures in mbari which mirror Igbo history, values, life, etc. (Agbada 2009:153).

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A post of an Igbo child with uli done from the Ụkpụrụ̄ Tumblr site.

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2010: Chiadikobi Nwaubani creates the blog Ụ́kpụ́rụ́ which is an archive of photos of Nigerian cultures from before 1940.

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2010: Chiadikobi Nwaubani creates the blog Ụ́kpụ́rụ́ which is an archive of photos of Nigerian cultures from before 1940.

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Chiadikobi is currently based in London and is from Umuahia, Nigeria. He was inspired to create the blog because he felt like there were very little sources on Nigerian people pre-colonization.

Some of his posts include Igbo people with uli, and he recommends Cole's 1982 book on Mbari as a resource for learning more about Igbo culture. Nwaubani also creates art, some of which utilizes uli, and this can be found at his instagram @imommiri.

This is his goal for the blog: “Although it’s a personal blog, I actually would like for it to inspire artists, writers, directors, or even people in school. A lot of people are made to read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, but they have no visuals of the culture. Most people on earth only have a limited view of what Africans cultures are today, let alone before” (Interview with That Igbo Girl, 2016).

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An Igbo girl from Nibo, present-day Anambra State, with ùlì designs on her skin. Photographed by Northcote Thomas c. 1911. MAA Cambridge.

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2011: Skyscraper City user Arinze makes a thread on Indigenous Igbo cosmology which gains 23k views

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2011: Skyscraper City user Arinze makes a thread on Indigenous Igbo cosmology which gains 23k views

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A part of the thread discusses Mbari and specifically references and even copy paste's pages of some of Cole's articles on mbari.

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2011-2012: period where blog posts on or briefly referencing mbari are published online

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2011-2012: period where blog posts on or briefly referencing mbari are published online

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26 April 2012: Apollos Ibeabuchi Oziogu writes a beautiful and incredibly detailed article on Mbari

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26 April 2012: Apollos Ibeabuchi Oziogu writes a beautiful and incredibly detailed article on Mbari

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Oziogu gives information on the selection of Nde Mgbe and the 24-day period of rest, relaxation, ritual, and enjoyment before they start working on mbari. He also goes the nitty-gritty of negotiations between families and priests on accepting or rejecting the call to be Nde Mgbe, and the motivation behind preparing clay for mbari by pounding/kneading it.

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2013: Obiora Udechukwu, arguably the most visible Nigerian uli artist, describes the motivations behind his art

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2013: Obiora Udechukwu, arguably the most visible Nigerian uli artist, describes the motivations behind his art

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Udechukwu emphasizes the fluidity of culture and the ability to incorporate foreign influences into one's tradition: “The same spirit that European modernists borrowed from African sculpture and Japanese woodblock prints to revitalize their work and, by extension, their tradition, I am open to using ideas or media from anywhere to advance my own work. For me, tradition is complex, flexible, and multilayered—both horizontally and vertically” (Udechukwu 2013:519). Although he draws from many international sources, such as Chinese painting, Igbo aesthetics are at the center of his work.

All of the people that he mentions as artistic influences are all men, and all of the articles on uli that recommends are written by Euro-Americans.

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Uli: A Symbol Of Forward To The Past article link. Pictured is Ambassador Robin Sanders and Eziafo Okaro. Photo is by Ikwuemesi.

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2013: Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi writes an brilliant article on the significance of learning about traditional forms of uli 

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2013: Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi writes an brilliant article on the significance of learning about traditional forms of uli 

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Ikwuemesi discusses bout his experience working with Robin Sanders, the former US Ambassador to Nigeria, as she interviewed Igbo women that still practice traditional form of uli.

Ikwuemesi emphasizes the significance of uli to the present and the future: “forms like Uli help us understand the past, present and future.  In the case of Uli it has a place in history that should never be lost...today’s Uli practitioners are symbols of connections that lead us all forward to the past.   It is vital to remember the past is never far from us, and if we deny its existence, value, and impact on our lives then we miss not only living honestly, but also not contributing to the future” (Ikwuemesi 2013).

This the most positive article Ikwuemesi has written on Igbo women who are traditional uli artists. Other articles of his are rife with elitism and sexism.

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While serving as American Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders loved the art of Sanders carried out research works on Uli (creative decorations done on different media) by Igbo women of South-eastern Nigeria.
Uli, a form of non-verbal communication among the people. Her appreciation of Uli made her to attend several exhibitions and workshops on Uli. Below is her piece during one of such exhibitions.

What provides inspiration, passion, and that energizes you to connect to the past so that you can better understand the present? For me it is social and political expressions of the things that are important to me. There are a number of forms in various cultures that serve for social, artistic and political expression.

One such form for the Igbo people of Nigeria, which is a gift to the world is, Uli. I see Uli, and forms like Uli, as "communication expressions" because they highlight the social and political feelings of not only the artist, but the environment that surrounds the artist be it a village, urban setting, or ritualistic activity

An Uli woman painter

The communication expression of Uli is symbolic of the theme of this exhibit because forms like Uli help us understand the past, present and future.In the case of Uli it has a place in history that should never be lost.

Having had the pleasure of the Uli experience as part of a ritual ceremony, as art, and as a social, historical and cultural marker in selected Igbo villages in South-eastern Nigeria as well as having worked with women who still believe and practice this communication expression, should serve an inspiration to us all to never forget cultural traditions.

I had the opportunity to have conversations with legends of Uli, meaning practitioners who, for 8 decades of life or more, have held on to their commitment to continue to maintain the Uli tradition.Their fortitude underscored to me the depth of just how important it is to hold on to the traditions of your ancestors because they help identify who we are today.

The message of the communication expression of Uli in its various forms is similar as a medium to many non-text, non -verbal forms of communications throughout the world, but especially in West Africa with Adrinka, Vrai, Nsibidi, Adire, and rock art of Native Americans being prime examples.

Forms like Uli drawing by Jessie Uche, Inyi, Enugu State
Uli do communicate, whether through the medium of art or as an expression of the things important to a culture or a society. The legends or "classic" Uli women are bedrocks for all of us who have not only learned to love Uli, but their commitment should serve as an inspiration to today's Uli practitioners - many of whom are here at this exhibition today.

These two groups of women - the classics or legends - and today's Uli practitioners are symbols of connections that lead us all forward to the past. It is vital to remember the past is never far from us, and if we deny its existence, value, and impact on our lives then we miss not only living honestly, but also not contributing to the future.

We all have the responsibility to appreciate non-text, non-verbal communication expressions like Uli whether Uli is expressed through art and other mediums because they are just as important and viable as any written form of communication. We
should never forget this or let forms like Uli, which is endangered, pass on as we lose an important link between the past, present, and certainly a contribution to share with future generations.

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While serving as American Ambassador to Nigeria, Robin Sanders loved the art of Sanders carried out research works on Uli (creative decorations done on different media) by Igbo women of South-eastern Nigeria. Uli, a form of non-verbal communication among the people. Her appreciation of Uli made her to attend several exhibitions and workshops on Uli.

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2013: Ambassador Robin Sanders publishes her groundbreaking book 'The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria: Their Life Stories in Signs, Symbols, and Motifs'

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2013: Ambassador Robin Sanders publishes her groundbreaking book 'The Legendary Uli Women of Nigeria: Their Life Stories in Signs, Symbols, and Motifs'

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This is the most comprehensive study of the traditional form of uli that centers Igbo women, the creators of uli.

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Their Life Stories in Signs, Symbols, and Motifs

by Ambassador (Dr.) Robin Renee Sanders

Publication Date : 11/11/2013

About the Book

Dr. Robin Renee Sanders, having lived in Africa for several years, was always struck by the ancestral, socio-historical and educational aspects of certain African cultural practices, especially languages, artifacts, and sign and symbol systems from the Ovahimba in Namibia and Pygmies in Congo, to the Horom, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Fulani of Nigeria. Her experiences on the Continent made her appreciate each and every culture and "its information systems," which in the end she called "communication expressions."

The book follows eight extraordinary Nigerian women in the December phase of their lives as they try to preserve the meanings of their endangered sign, symbol, and motif system called Uli (oo-lee). Uli is an acknowledgement of their Igbo history, culture and ancestors. Sanders agrees with others scholars who posit that non-text, non-oral forms of communication expressions such as Nigeria's Uli, and other sign and symbol systems throughout the world, particularly in Africa, are just as important or "viable" as the written word and their meanings should be respected and preserved. Endangered cultural practices, like Uli, are just as important to protect as endangered languages as a symbolic relationship exists between the two.

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Dr. Robin Renee Sanders, having lived in Africa for several years, was always struck by the ancestral, socio-historical and educational aspects of certain African cultural practices, especially languages, artifacts, and sign and symbol systems from the Ovahimba in Namibia and Pygmies in Congo, to th

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2014-2017: Time period in which blog posts on uli are being published online

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2014-2017: Time period in which blog posts on uli are being published online

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2014: Chuma Anagbado publishes a book on uli motifs 

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2014: Chuma Anagbado publishes a book on uli motifs 

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2-3 May 2014: Two talks, one on uli and another on mbari, are given at the 3rd annual Igbo conference hosted by the University of London

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2-3 May 2014: Two talks, one on uli and another on mbari, are given at the 3rd annual Igbo conference hosted by the University of London

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Chike Azuonye, a Nigerian artist who is a part of the Nigeria Art Society UK, gave a talk entitled "The Influence of Uli in Contemporary Nigerian Art.”

Chikwendu Anyanwu, a Nigerian scholar, was a panelist on "The Demise of Mbari Heritage: The Mistake of Our Fathers" for the panel on Igbo Spirituality and the Igbo Worldview.

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2014-2015: Esuru Belem Ichoku makes a series of posts on a Wordpress blog on uli and Nigerian art

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2014-2015: Esuru Belem Ichoku makes a series of posts on a Wordpress blog on uli and Nigerian art

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Ichoku emphasizes that uli is still practiced, not extinct: “I have used the present tense in this article to acknowledge that it has not completely disappeared” ("Uli Painting and Mark Making- Nigerian").

The echoes of the Poetics of Line exhibition are evident here; only Nsukka school men are mentioned in relation to uli.

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2015: The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art posts a YouTube video on Ambassador Robin Sanders' recently released book  

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2015: The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art posts a YouTube video on Ambassador Robin Sanders' recently released book  

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This video has a little under 3k views.

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Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

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2016: University of Port Harcourt Professor Samuel Onwuakpa publishes one of the most detailed articles on the processes behind uli as done on the body and on walls

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2016: University of Port Harcourt Professor Samuel Onwuakpa publishes one of the most detailed articles on the processes behind uli as done on the body and on walls

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Professor Onwuakpa gives detailed information on ufie, camwood, which has a brilliant red color that signifies blood, womanhood, life, etc. to various Igbo peoples.

Other topics that he covers are the time of day, positions of the person getting uli and the artist, most favorable areas of the body, colors used for uli on the body and for murals, the process of preparing walls for uli murals, tools used for uli application, and non-animal motifs in uli.

A particular point to highlight is Onwuakpa's assertion that even though a person may not understand the symbolism of the uli motifs, which enhances the viewing experience, one can still derive pleasure from seeing murals with uli.

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2016: Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi writes an article that compares and contrasts Igbo and Ainu art

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2016: Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi writes an article that compares and contrasts Igbo and Ainu art

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In "Art as a tool for cross-cultural conversation: A personal dialogue with Igbo and Ainu art," Ikwuemesi argues that the Ainu have been able to successfully preserve their art, while Igbo people have yet to do so. Ikwuemesi is attempting to combat this by training artists to work with uli across different mediums, via grants from the US Mission in Nigeria.

He ends his article with a remark on the importance of Sankofa, a Ghanian principle of going back and studying the past and applying what you've learned to the present and future: “In light of the postcolonial condition, the best possibility that remains for the Igbo and Ainu is, perhaps, the sankofa option; Igbo and Ainu artists and peoples must “go back and pick”. For the Ainu, the journey has been on and fruitful. For the Igbo, it seems the journey is yet to begin” (Ikwuemesi 2016:15).

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2017: Ambassador Robin Sanders gives a TEDxTalk VCU on Uli

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2017: Ambassador Robin Sanders gives a TEDxTalk VCU on Uli

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Endangered Cultural Patterns & Symbols: Important Non-Verbal Communication | Robin Sanders | TEDxVCU

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11 January – 24 March 2018: Legacies of Biafra Art Exhibition occurs in the Brunei Gallery connected to the University of London

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11 January – 24 March 2018: Legacies of Biafra Art Exhibition occurs in the Brunei Gallery connected to the University of London

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The above link will take you to a virtual tour of the exhibition. The above artwork pictured is titled "War and Peace" and is by Uzo Egonu, 1970. Copyright of the artist.

The exhibition "will feature artwork, which explores the on-going impact of war locally and globally, considering how the first civil war in post-independence Africa has influenced the perception of the continent internationally, as well as reshaping the social and political structures within Nigeria" (http://igboconference-com.stackstaging.com/legacies-of-biafra-art-exhibition/).

Chinwe Uwatsu and Ndidi Dike, two amazing multidisciplinary Nigerian women artists, are a part of this exhibition.

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Body Painting and the Art of Uli - Art635 Virtual Museum.

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20 June 2018: Tobijulo Onifade makes a blog post on uli which receives around 9k views

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20 June 2018: Tobijulo Onifade makes a blog post on uli which receives around 9k views

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The image above is in Onifade's article, which Onifade attributes to Esuru Belema Ichoku's wordpress site.

The echoes of the Poetics of Line exhibition are also evident here; only the men highlighted in the exhibition are credited with keeping uli alive/reviving uli.

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Body Painting and the Art of Uli - Art635 Virtual Museum

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By Tobijulo Onifade Growing up, I remember tattoos and body decoration being implied as a new Western thing which was a bit confusing as my grandmother as well as a few older people I knew had some of tattoos/body decorations, especially on their arms. As I grew older, I took an interest in Nigerian artistry ...

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12-13 April 2019: The 8th Annual Igbo conference, hosted by the University of London, has a featured speaker on mbari and other Igbo artforms

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12-13 April 2019: The 8th Annual Igbo conference, hosted by the University of London, has a featured speaker on mbari and other Igbo artforms

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Iheanyi Onwuegbucha, who is associated with Centre of Contemporary Arts, Lagos, gives a talk entitled "From Mbari to Igwe bu Ike: Communality and Igbo Art."

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From "Significance of animal motifs in indigenous Uli body and wall paintings" https://www.ajol.info/index.php/mjas/article/view/187378/176651

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2019: Nkiruka Jane Uju Nwafor, a Nigerian scholar, writes a detailed analysis of animal motifs in uli 

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2019: Nkiruka Jane Uju Nwafor, a Nigerian scholar, writes a detailed analysis of animal motifs in uli 

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The above is an uli motif of Ngwele/Ngwere (Lizard) From Njikoka, Umuleri, Anambra; Etiti Imo. Nwafor's source for this photo is Elizabeth Willis' “A lexicon of Igbo Uli motifs."

Nwafor offers not just a plethora of examples of how these motifs actually look like, but also digs into the cultural significance around each animal.

The animals that she examines are:
Pythons (Eke) /Snakes
Leopard (agu)
Crocodile (Aguiyi)
Elephant (Enyi)

Lizard (Ngwele/Ngwere)
Tortoise (Mbe)

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2019: By this time, around 10 different publications worldwide have published at least one article on/briefly referencing mbari since 1910

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2019: By this time, around 10 different publications worldwide have published at least one article on/briefly referencing mbari since 1910

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Most of these publications are situated in the West, specifically the United States, and are restricted access- only scholars or students in academia can access them. Papers on uli from Non-western publications tend to be open access, and readily accessible to people outside of academia. A small portion of the authors of these articles are Euro-Americans.

African Arts, a journal out of the UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, has published the most articles (6+) on mbari.

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This is a pdf overview of the exhibition. 

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Jan 2020-March 2021: Making Matter: Materiality and Technology in Nigerian Art exhibition runs in the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art Pan-Atlantic University in Nigeria

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Jan 2020-March 2021: Making Matter: Materiality and Technology in Nigerian Art exhibition runs in the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art Pan-Atlantic University in Nigeria

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This link will take you to a virtual tour of the exhibition with commentary.

Exhibition description:
“Artists across time and space have infused materials not only with ritual and symbolic significance but also social, political, and economic functions. In Africa, artists from all known records have expressed themselves in different forms using varieties of media and materials. From the Stone Age to the earliest contact and the era of the explorers, evidences abound of the artistic potentials of Africa. Although an array of art materials is now available in Nigeria, many artists continue to explore the physical and textural qualities of local materials. In addition to improvising with industrial materials, Nigerian artists like their ancestors seek out materials local to their environment and in response to their civilization.

Using examples of works in clay, wood, metal, fibre, beads and repurposed objects, the exhibition shows how Nigerian artists have explored different materials available within their environment, mirroring the various social conditions and civilizations at that time. Terracotta, for instance, that is produced with the locally abundant clay has been used by artists from the NOK people since 500BC and has constantly been explored by Nigerian artists ever since. Thus, this exhibition draws on the materiality and expressive potential of various art media as a way of highlighting under-examined aspects of the original materials with which Nigerian artists have worked with over time. Works from Artists like Demas Nwoko, El Anatsui, Chris Echeta, Uchay Joel Chima and a host of other artists will feature in this exhibition" (https://museum.pau.edu.ng/exhibitions/materiality-and-civilization; emphasis mine).

The curator for this exhibition was Iheanyi Onwuegbucha. All of the artists that are mentioned by name in the description are men.

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making matter: An exhibition on materiality & technology in Nigerian art 

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2020: BBC News Igboo publishes an article on why mbari is no longer made

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2020: BBC News Igboo publishes an article on why mbari is no longer made

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A translation and summary of the article is in the article “BBC’s searchlight spots crumbling Mbari art in Umunakara” by Osa Amadi.

The main factor behind mbari as explained by Igbo elders is that "it was when Christianity came that the making of Mbari was stopped an began to be used only as an object of art exhibition or spectacle” (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/02/bbcs-searchlight-spots-crumbling-mbari-art-in-umunakara/).

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Ngwaọrụ gị akwadoghi ọkpụkpọ mgbasa ozi

Igbo Culture: Ihe mere e ji kwụsị ịgba mbarị n'obodo anyị

Ndị ichie obodo Imerienwe kọwara ihe mere ha esoghi ụkpụrụ ndị nna nna ha n'omenala ịgba mbarị.

Ha gwara BBC Igbo na mbarị bụ omenala ha zutere dịka a mụrụ ha, na onweghi onye dị ndụ ugbua nwereike ịkọwa mgbe ọ malitere.

Dịka e si kọrọ ha, ndị na-agba mbarị na-anọkọ otu ebe were ọmụ na akịrịka gbachie onwe ha ruo ihe ruru afọ abụọ.

Ndị a ga-amalite iji aja ụrọ na nzụ na-akpụ ụzụ dị iche iche n'ime afọ abụọ ha ga-anọ n'ime mbarị a.

Mgbe ha kpụchara, ha ga-agba ya n'anwụ ka ndị ọha nwee ike hụrụ ihe ha kpụrụ

Ha kwuru na ụfọdụ na-ahụta ya dịka agbara maka na ọ na-akụgbu onye mere ihe ọjọọ n'oge ahụ..

Ndi ichie kwuru na ọ bụ mgbe ụka Kraịst batara n'obodo, ka a kwụsịrị ịgba mbarị n'obodo ha ma were ya mere zie ebe nlereanya.

Ndị mepụtara ihe nkiri a bụ Ikechukwu Kalu na Vining Ogu

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Ihe mere e ji kwụsị ịgba mbarị n'obodo anyị - BBC News Ìgbò

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Ngwaọrụ gị akwadoghi ọkpụkpọ mgbasa ozi Igbo Culture: Ihe mere e ji kwụsị ịgba mbarị n'obodo anyị Ndị ichie obodo Imerienwe kọwara ihe mere ha esoghi ụkpụrụ ndị nna nna ha n'omenala ịgba mbarị. Ha gwara BBC Igbo na mbarị bụ omenala ha zutere dịka a mụrụ ha, na onweghi onye dị ndụ ugbua nwereike ịkọwa mgbe ọ malitere.

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2020: a Euro-American slights Uwatse's art in the Legacies of Biafra exhibition; perpetuating and replicating power structures  

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2020: a Euro-American slights Uwatse's art in the Legacies of Biafra exhibition; perpetuating and replicating power structures  

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Will Rea claims that "in Promise of Tomorrow by Chinwe Uwatse: An uli design, one that could have been directly lifted from Okeke, floats across a landscape and in front of a blood red sky and half a yellow sun (drawn from the Biafran flag) (Fig. 2).” (Rea 2020: 83). This is beyond disrespectful.

This is exemplary of how Nigerian women (and their art) are treated by Euro-American art historians, anthropologists, scholars, etc. in publications on uli from the 1900s up to present day. Although Nigerian women, specifically Igbo women, pioneered uli, and many have capitulated it to new heights, they are relegated to a position below the art of Nigerian men. These men are instead viewed as complex, multi-dimensional artists and are credited with the creativity and innovation that actually originated from Nigerian women.

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2020: [Re:]Entangled Traditions exhibition is held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka

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2020: [Re:]Entangled Traditions exhibition is held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka

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Artists from the University of Nsukka engaged Northcote Thomas' archive of photos and created artwork based off of one of the five areas of the archive:

Uli body and wall painting

Ichi scarification

Hair-styles

Clothing

Wrestling

Rita Doris Edumchieke Ubah (a textile artist and lecturer of textile art at the University of Nsukka) and Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi both heavily engaged uli in their artworks.

In her commentary on the archive and her resulting artwork, Ubah remarks that Thomas’ photographic archive is an incredible authentic, primary source that she wants to make sure that every student that comes through Nsukka interacts with.

It is important to note that Ikwuemesi's belief (from his 2016 article) that traditional uli is not being engaged in contemporary art has changed. He "celebrates the resilience of cultural traditions, how people continue ‘to do old things in new ways’” (https://re-entanglements.net/?s=%5BRe%3A%5DEntangled+Traditions+exhibition%2C+Nsukka&submit=Search). His main focus in regards to uli is attempting to make it accessible by moving it from academia to the general Nigerian public.

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2020: Professor Nkiru Nzegwu publishes a paper on temporality, art, and transculturality in Nigeria

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2020: Professor Nkiru Nzegwu publishes a paper on temporality, art, and transculturality in Nigeria

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This paper entitled "Temporality, Oríkì and Nigeria’s Contemporary Art," is a dense text so only her assertions in relation to uli will be highlighted:

“The same can be said for the ulism movement of the Nsukka school that centered uli, Igbo women’s much older stylistics as the base of creativity. Regardless of ethnicity (I have in mind the Yoruba Tayo Adenike), ulism sensitively interweaves abstract forms and ideograms in socioaesthetic proclamations that advance new transcultural nationalist identities and heritages. Through this creative maneuver, ulism upstages artistic coloniality and the Western prescriptions of what art is or should be. Contemporary Nigerian art is unabashedly local and adapts to current circumstances. It is simultaneously historical and challenges art disciplinary historiography. It is in a three-way conversation with the artists, the collectors, and the politics of the time; hence, its ontology and modern character are incontestable” (Nzegwu 2020:98). The utilization of uli by the Nsukka school is provocative; it asks the viewer to consider multiple perspectives and realities at once. Juggling  questions of art, identity, and the purpose of art in relation to sociopolitical realities, contemporary uli fluidly addresses relationships: relationships to time, culture, the government, other people, and the self.

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2020-present day: This is the time range of contemporary Nigerian artists who engage uli motifs and/or mbari aesthetics in their work + when information on uli and mbari are appearing on social medias such as Instagram and TikTok

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2020-present day: This is the time range of contemporary Nigerian artists who engage uli motifs and/or mbari aesthetics in their work + when information on uli and mbari are appearing on social medias such as Instagram and TikTok

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Instagram account @Okwuid aims to promote Igbo culture, and is 10k followers strong.

At its most recent festival, OkwuFest, in August of 2022, uli was a part of the fest

Okwuid has also hosted in-person and virtual workshops on uli, 19 March 2022 and 27 March 2022, respectively.

It is much more difficult to find information on mbari on instagram and TikTok, there are less than 20 posts on both Instagram and Tiktok combined on mbari.

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by @small_and_slightly_strange, via 27 October 2021 IG Post. Copyright Kelechi Kelechi 2021.

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Contemporary Artist: Chinwendu Kelechi Kelechi

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Contemporary Artist: Chinwendu Kelechi Kelechi

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Instagram: @small_and_slightly_strange

Igbo

Refers to herself as a writer, historian, and self-taught practitioner of Igbo cultural aesthetics in her IG bio

Directly engages uli, mbari, and nsibidi (writing system of the Ekpe secret society in Southeastern Nigeria) in her work

Currently an artist in residence at the African Artist’ Foundation (AAF) in Lagos

Was a part of AAF's 2021 'Unusual Suspects' Group Exhibition

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kelechi, Chinwendu Kelechi (@small_and_slightly_strange)

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"Communion" by kaecyart via 28 March 2022 IG Post. Copyright Kelechi Nwaneri.

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Instagram: @kaecyart

Igbo

Engages uli and nsibidi in his art, especially on the bodies of the people in his art

Engages Indigenous Igbo cosmologies by depicting Igbo gods and goddesses in some of his work

Was also a part of the "Unusual Suspects" group exhibition

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kelechi Nwaneri (@kaecyart)

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2021: By this time, over 15 publications have published articles on or briefly mentioning uli since 1910. 

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2021: By this time, over 15 publications have published articles on or briefly mentioning uli since 1910. 

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The vast majority of the authors of these articles are Black Nigerians, or Black Americans. The majority of these publications are situated in the West, specifically either America or London. There are publications in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Tanzania that also have articles on uli, and these articles are almost always open access.

African Arts, a journal out of the UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, has published the most articles (over 12) on uli.

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2021: Nigerian scholar Nkiruka Jane Nwafor writes on how the individualism of 21st century art practices were beneficial for Nigerian women artists

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2021: Nigerian scholar Nkiruka Jane Nwafor writes on how the individualism of 21st century art practices were beneficial for Nigerian women artists

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The artists she highlights are Afiong Ekong (sculptor), Mgbadunnwa Okanumee (traditional uli artist), Colette Omogbai (surrealist painter), Chinwe Uwatse (painter), and Ndidi Dike (sculptor and poet).

Nwafor's central argument is that since the art landscape has moved from art collectives (which were virtually male-only) to the individual, Nigerian women artists have been able to make names for themselves on their own without needing the support of an art collective.

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2021: The Endangered Material Knowledge Program (EMKP) gives 4 Nigerian scholars a grant to study and document uli body art

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2021: The Endangered Material Knowledge Program (EMKP) gives 4 Nigerian scholars a grant to study and document uli body art

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The main scholar behind the project is Tracie Chima Utoh-Ezeajugh, and her collaborators are Emmanuel Ebekue, Dr. Ngozi U. Emeka-Nwobia, and Akpa Peter Emenike.

These are their research goals:
"The specific goals of this project are to document the indigenous Uli body design tradition and Uli knowledge system of the Igbo of South East Nigeria in digital video and photo format before it goes into extinction; to preserve the indigenous skills, materials and motifs/patterns of the Igbo Uli body design/body art as a tangible system of African material Knowledge and cultural heritage; to document the design process and use of Uli body designs in the Eremokata rite-of- passage ceremony of the Ezza Effium community, as being representative of the indigenous Uli body design tradition of the Igbo of South East Nigeria; to produce a documentation on Uli body designs which will encourage a synergy between traditional Uli designers and modern Uli designers; to ignite research interest in Uli and other traditional body designs and encourage the universal distribution of indigenous artistic knowledge; to place Uli plants in the milieu of ecological knowledge systems and to produce digital assets on Uli body designs for the EMKP repository and the local repository in Nigeria, for universal consumption through open access" (https://www.emkp.org/speaking-bodies-documenting-uli-body-designs-of-the-igbo-of-nigeria/).

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Uli, the most significant culture of body decoration among the Igbo of South East Nigeria, is the art of decorating the body (and in some instances, the scalp and hair) in patterns and motifs with liquid juices extracted from Uli pods or fruits. The designers, who are usually women, are central to the whole process of Uli body designing. They are artistically and creatively knowledgeable in the use and application of Uli, and are adept in creating free-hand motifs and patterns on their clients' bodies with sharp pointed instruments dipped in Uli liquid. This requires a great deal of artistic proficiency and manipulation in order to draw these patterns which range from the arrangement of ordinary lines and dots, to very intricate and complicated motifs without smudging the designs. Uli in its indigenous form is however, facing the risk of extinction, as many have abandoned the traditional body design for modern make-up. The Uli design tradition practiced by designers, celebrants and spectators in the Eremokata rite-of-passage ceremony of Ezza Effium, Nigeria, represents one of the few surviving design traditions that bear very close resemblance to the autochthonous Uli design practice of the Igbo. Using the interpretative, descriptive and narrative approach to video documentary and photography, this project documents the process and product of Uli body designs used in the Eremokata rite-of-passage ceremony/festival for young male adults and betrothed girls. The documentation captures Uli trees/shrubs, pods and seeds; the preparation of Uli dye; the designing sessions for body, hair and complimentary adornments; and the public exhibition of Uli designs by celebrants and spectators during the Eremokata festival. The emphasis is on the art and skills of the indigenous Uli designers; the materials and instruments of design, the design procedure and the Uli body designs.

The specific goals of this project are to document the indigenous Uli body design tradition and Uli knowledge system of the Igbo of South East Nigeria in digital video and photo format before it goes into extinction; to preserve the indigenous skills, materials and motifs/patterns of the Igbo Uli body design/body art as a tangible system of African material Knowledge and cultural heritage; to document the design process and use of Uli body designs in the Eremokata rite-of- passage ceremony of the Ezza Effium community, as being representative of the indigenous Uli body design tradition of the Igbo of South East Nigeria; to produce a documentation on Uli body designs which will encourage a synergy between traditional Uli designers and modern Uli designers; to ignite research interest in Uli and other traditional body designs and encourage the universal distribution of indigenous artistic knowledge; to place Uli plants in the milieu of ecological knowledge systems and to produce digital assets on Uli body designs for the EMKP repository and the local repository in Nigeria, for universal consumption through open access.

Collaborators:
Emmanuel Ebekue
Dr. Ngozi U. Emeka-Nwobia
Akpa Peter Emenike

Host Institution:
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

Top Banner Image: Eremokata rite-of-passage ceremony celebrant being designed by an Uli designer. Photo: Tracie Chima Utoh-Ezeajugh

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Speaking Bodies: Documenting Uli Body Designs of the Igbo of Nigeria - Endangered Material Knowledge Programme

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Uli, the most significant culture of body decoration among the Igbo of South East Nigeria, is the art of decorating the body (and in some instances, the scalp and hair) in patterns and motifs with liquid juices extracted from Uli pods or fruits.

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2022: Forward To The Past: Re-Engaging Uli In New Experiments exhibition is hosted by the The Brunei Gallery, SOAS University of London

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2022: Forward To The Past: Re-Engaging Uli In New Experiments exhibition is hosted by the The Brunei Gallery, SOAS University of London

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Several Nsukka affiliated uli artists, such as Rita Doris Ubah, George Odoh, and Chuu Krydz Ikwuemesi have their work on display.