Can we have a look at sculptures?

Hello friends!

I’m glad to be here again, I trust you are great!

^{Ibom Hall}

Friends what normally comes to your mind when you hear the term art? Art indeed has a lot of stories to tell, it is used for beautification, communication, and entertainment. Today I want to show you a notable place in my city and some of the arts in the building. It is no other place than the Ibom Hall which is located at Ibb Avenue Uyo, Akwa Ibom state. I believe through the name you can imagine the kind of place it is, yes this is where some popular events are hosted, it could be social-political, or economic events.

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^{On an event day people busy trading}

Ibom Hall is a well-known landmark in my state. A glorious structure with state of art facilities. Note this hall has hosted numerous important events, For example, the Ibom 3000 empowerment was hosted here, where the first batch of 1000 youths was given 100,000 nairas each to start or support their small businesses. I was one of the beneficiaries and it was during this time I seize the opportunity to take photos of some of the sculptures in the hall so that I can share them with you all.

Ibom Hall is well decorated with sculpture and art. I appreciate the artists who designed this building.

Beginning from the fence of the building the gate to the inside is filled with numerous arts and I will show you some of these sculptures.

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^{the giant sculpture Infront if the gates}

In front of the hall is a giant sculpture
It is a village man with his traditional attires sitting on a wooden chair, holding two drum sticks upward and his local drum is with him. Playing drums is one of our cultures.

^{thesculpture on entry gate}

At the entrance of the two gates, the entry and the exit is a sculpture of ladies with different designs and Patterns, they are princesses, they’ve adorned themselves with beads including waist beads and anklets and they’ve braided their hair wearing beads in our culture to date.

^{the sculpture on the exit gate}

The sculpture are many so let’s dive into some and I’ll try to explain each of them.

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^{the sculpture of a man with an axe}

A man with an axe is trying to split wood using the axe he raises. In interior villages even here in the city, some people are using firewoods to cook and the bigger logs needed to be split into smaller pieces before it is used to make a fire for cooking.

^{the sculpture of a woman returning from the farm with products}

The next sculpture is a woman coming back from the farm with a basket filled with different kinds of fruit and vegetables on her head. It means that there will be food for the family. We are hardworking people, and farming is one of our cultures. This sculpture brought back that memory of when my mom came back from the farm we will rush to get the baskets from her knowing that fruit and even some game might be inside. I know I’m not the only one who can relate to this.

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^{the sculpture of a Man fetching water}

This art shows a man fetching water from the stream with a small calabash and turning the water into a bigger pot. Wow! you see history has it that men can fetch water as well, that it is not a woman’s work. Thanks to the person who made this sculpture it communicated to us so it is not just a sculpture.

^{Sculpture of a man pounding yam}

I can vividly relate to this because I have this kind of mortar and pestle in my house. My mom bought it for me during my traditional marriage. well, this can be stressful at times, but it is worth the stress I mean even when technology makes it easier by providing a blender but this is the old way.

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^{the sculpture of a woman cooking with the fireworks}

O la la! I love this one, it is a woman cooking using firewood the old method I mentioned earlier. She’s tasting her food using a wooden spoon to scoop it, you can notice that she’s stressed out her palm to drop the soup and taste, hmm I guess that soup is yummy. Guess what! This is the way my mother taught me to be tasting my food, haha, she told me never to taste food from the spoon but in my palms, haha, @gracyakan I know you can relate to this, This is quite an art, right?

^{the sculpture of two women, one braided hair}

Here we go again! Two women, one is sitting and the other one standing is braiding her hair they are both dressed in their traditional attires they wear beads on their necks too.

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^{the sculpture of a young woman coming back from the farm}

This sculpture is of a young woman returning from the farm and looking tired. I like her half-top revealing part of her stomach and her waist bead is nice.

Reaching home she put down the basket and headed to cook.

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Oh no, I can't relate to this sculpture, maybe a woman going to the market, but for sure it’s artistic.

^{the sculpture of an archer}

The next sculpture is an archer he is carrying a bow and timing a target well the man is rather bent I feel it is not right but remember it’s just an art so no issues.

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^{the sculpture of an a fisherman}

A sculpture shows a fisherman letting down his net into the river to catch fish, he’s standing at the edge of his boat. Fishing is one of a profession over here.

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^{the sculpture of a hunter}

This depicts a hunter returning from his hunt with a game in his hand.

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^{the sculpture of a farmer}

Next, is a farmer returning from the farm with his farming tools, the hoe in his right hand hanging on his neck, and the cutlass in his left hand.

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Well, I can’t decode this particular sculpture but I think is a palm wine tapper going back to his house I can’t say for sure because I don’t know what he’s holding in his hand.

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^{the sculpture of a town crier}

Behold is the village town crier. He is keeping the villagers alert passing important information. Criers normally go around the village hitting their tools in their hands to attract people's attention and announcing important messages from the king or council of elders and chief.

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^{the sculpture of a drummer}

This is a village drummer playing at a festival.

^{the sculpture of a man with his horn}

This young man is with his local horn playing too

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^{the sculpture of a village drummer}

A village drummer playing vigorously at a festival, he’s sitting on the drum and hitting his drum set. You can find this among cultural groups.

These two ladies are dancing, merriment is in our culture. They adorned themselves with beads and cultural dance attires.

This sculpture depicts a man heading to harvest palm fruits he’s with rope and a cutlass.

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And the last sculpture is a man and a woman performing drama on a festival day. With their traditional costume.

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Me taking a selfie in front of the giant sculpture

I think you already have enough of it for today, I hope you're entertained by it. See you in my next post.

All the pictures was taken by me with my Tecno Camon16s phone, location: Ibom Hall Uyo Akwa Ibom State.

Written by:
@goodybest