The Princess Who Broke Benin Traditions

This is Princess Elizabeth Olowu nee Akẹnzua, the Benin princess who broke with Benin tradition to become the first female bronze caster in Nigeria. Okhuo-isẹ-ẹrọnmwọn, meaning “a woman does not cast bronze” was a long-standing tradition in the ancient kingdom of Benin until the princess decided to take her interest in art serious, challenging her father, the king, to prove that culture is indeed dynamic. 

Born 8 August 1945, daughter of Ọba Akẹnzua II, grandfather of the current king who reigned from 1933 till 1978 and an aunt of Ọba Ẹwuare II who ascended the ancient throne in 2016, Princess Elizabeth is also the first female to major in sculpture at the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Benin, and the first female recipient of the university’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

The Benin People hold very strongly to their customs and traditions which are empowered by the words of the Ọba. One of such traditions was the one which forbade women from the great art of bronze casting for which the people of Benin have gained renown world-wide. It was believed that a woman would become barren if she went into the foundry or handled the bellows.

As a child Princess Elizabeth developed interest in the arts especially sculpture which was encouraged by her father. When she shared her desire to add bronze casting to her art, her father, a progressive king, decided to put traditions aside, entrusting the princess to the tutelage of the Igun Ẹrọnmwọn bronze casting guild who would teach her the noble art.

Princess Elizabeth continued her formal art education at the University of Benin where she graduated with a BA in Fine Arts in 1979, going further to earn a master’s degree in sculpture in 1984 after completing a thesis on “An Investigation into Benin Cire Perdue Casting Technique” and becoming the University of Benin’s first female recipient of a Master of Fine Arts (MFA).

Source: Benin Cosmology group

Source: Benin Cosmology group