Kokunre Agbontaen-Ekghofona
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Benin
Benin City

Abstract
A number of Benin (Nigeria) art objects, particularly brass plaques have been recognized as
serving the purpose of mnemonics, to aid the recalling of events or persons represented in the
art work. After the dispersal of the Benin art works in1897, these art works were
photographed and documented in catalogues and books and found their way to various
museums worldwide. Catalogues and books such as Read and Dalton‟s Antiquities from the
City of Benin and Other Parts of West Africa in the British Museum (1899), Ling Roth‟s
“Personal Ornaments from Benin” (1899) Felix von-Luschan‟s Die Karl Knorr „sche
Sammlung von Benin-Alterumrn in Museum for Volkerkunde in Stutttgart, (1901) and Die
Altetumer von Benin” (1919) adequately presented several of these objects in photographs.
For numerous people, including Benin indigenes without actual physical contact with these
objects in museums and private collections, photographs serve as the only means of viewing
the objects. Using qualitative methods, this paper re-examines a photograph and the original
caption in light of the indigenous interpretation from ethnographic research and oral literature
in Benin City. How the photograph assists our understanding of Benin culture is highlighted.
Barthes‟ methods of structural analysis in photographic message is used, as a selected
photograph of brass plaque is examined and reinterpreted afresh from information gathered
from field interview in Benin City, Nigeria.