- Title: Missing Chibok girls sculpted in clay in Nigeria art project
- Date: 7th December 2022
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 01, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTIST, PRUNE NOURRY, SAYING: ‘’’For the students, for all of us who felt so useless when something so incredible happened and you cannot do anything about it, the fact of being able to at least give a little thing through sculptures, through what we know how to do, was healing.’’ LAGOS, NIGERIA (NOVEMBER 29, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GUESTS AT THE EXHIBITION, LOOKING AND TAKING PHOTOS VARIOUS OF TERRACOTTA HEADS ON DISPLAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) COORDINATOR FOR BRING BACK OUR GIRLS - LAGOS, HABIBA BALOGIN, SAYING: ‘’These girls have been in distress for 8 years, so yeah I am really happy that a project like this have come up that is really going to elevate the level of discourse and understanding, and even almost like have a permanent record in the history of this our country about something tragic like this.’’ VARIOUS OF CASTS ON DISPLAY
- Embargoed: 21st December 2022 11:06
- Keywords: #BringBackOurGirls Abduction Chibok Girls Security
- Location: LAGOS AND OSUN STATES, NIGERIA
- City: LAGOS AND OSUN STATES, NIGERIA
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Africa,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA003482406122022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The faces of 108 Nigerian girls who are still missing eight years after they were kidnapped by Islamist insurgents have been sculpted in clay in a collaboration between an artist, a group of potters and university students.
The artwork, titled "Statues Also Breathe" and conceived by French artist Prune Nourry, consists of 108 life-size clay heads, made by 108 students from all over Nigeria, and now on display at an art gallery in Lagos.
Boko Haram militants abducted around 270 teenage girls from a school in the north-eastern town of Chibok in 2014.
The mass kidnapping initially prompted worldwide outrage, with the slogan #BringBackOurGirls trending on social media and prominent figures including then U.S. first lady Michelle Obama pressing for their return.
Since then, about 160 of the girls have been released, some after years of captivity, but the story has faded from the headlines.
Nourry was touring her ‘’Terracotta Girls’’ in 2014 when she heard about the Chibok girls’ abduction and knew she had to do something about it.
‘’When I was touring the army of girls of the ‘’Terracotta Girls’’ in 2014 and I heard about the Chibok girls, I wished that someday I might create an army there to talk about these missing girls, but 8 years later they are still missing, some are still missing and we still need to talk about it because it is a universal, global struggle and symbol,’’ Nourry said.
Nourry collected photos of the missing girls from their families and passed the images on to the students who created the sculptures at a one-day outdoor workshop on the campus of Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife, southwest Nigeria.
A small group of women who were among the abducted girls and were later released took part, as did some parents of the missing women.
Nourry said it was a cathartic experience for all involved.
‘’’For the students, for all of us who felt so useless when something so incredible happened and we cannot do anything about it, the fact of being able to at least give a little thing through sculptures, through what we know how to do, was healing, was a kind of catharsis," she said.
The young artists took inspiration from photos of Ife heads - terracotta sculptures made in the region centuries ago and considered to be among Nigeria's most significant cultural artefacts.
They used clay from the Ife area - the substance that, according to the Yoruba ethnic group's creation myth, was used to form humans - sourced by a community of local female potters, who also contributed to the creative process.
‘’These girls have been in distress for 8 years, so yeah I am really happy that a project like this have come up that is really going to elevate the level of discourse and understanding, and even almost like have a permanent record in the history of this our country about something tragic like this," said Habiba Balogun, coordinator of the Bring Back Our Girls campaign in Lagos.
The sculptures will tour the world, and then brought back to Africa where she hopes a collector will buy the pieces and donate to a public museum in Africa, and all the money will go to a not for profit foundation to finance arts and education in Nigeria.
(Production: Seun Sanni, Angela Ukomadu) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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