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    Art, Culture & Travel, News, Travel / 20 May 2019

    British Museum Considers Loan of ‘Invisible’ Objects Back to Ethiopia

    The British Museum is to consider returning a group of “invisible” objects to Ethiopia. These are tabots (Christian plaques), which symbolically represent the Ark of the Covenant—the wooden chest that is said to have held the Ten Commandments. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church believes that tabots should never be viewed by anyone other than its priests. There are 11 tabots in the British Museum. Although the storage arrangements are confidential, they are believed to be kept in a sealed storeroom in the basement of the Bloomsbury complex. Even Lissant Bolton, the museum’s keeper of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, has never set foot in the room, let alone seen the tabots. The tabots are individually wrapped in cloth and placed on a shelf covered with purple velvet. Nine of the museum’s 11 tabots are made from wood, the other two from stone, and they probably all feature a carved cross. The tabots were made to sanctify the individual churches where they were originally kept and usually include the name of the saint after which their church is named. These particular tabots were seized by British troops at the battle of Maqdala in 1868 when Emperor Tewodros committed suicide. Seven were donated to the museum soon afterwards by the secretary of state for India, and another came from the museum’s representative on the punitive expedition, Richard Holmes. One was purchased in 1968, another donated in 1990 and the final one has an unknown provenance. In March this year an Ethiopian delegation, headed by the culture minister Hirut Kassaw, visited the British Museum and met with its director, Hartwig Fischer. During an amicable discussion, the Ethiopians informally requested the return of the 11 tabots, along with other material seized at Maqdala. A museum spokeswoman confirmed “Our officials recently met an Ethiopian delegation. The director…

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    Column, Culture & Travel, Food & Wine, Lifestyle, Luxury, Travel / 17 May 2019

    A Tasteful Experience at Eric Kayser

    Maison Eric Kayser is here to make a case that simple is always better—whether you like it or not. The reputable restaurant, first established on September 13, 1996 in Paris, is the brainchild of one of the world’s most renowned bakers, Eric Kayser. Today, there are over 200 Maison Kaysers worldwide, from the Philippines to Mexico, Tunisia, Greece, Portugal, the United Arab Emirates, Chile, Indonesia, and now Nigeria. Despite its reputation as a patisserie, Kayser is also able to offer unique culinary options with a French twist in ways that diversify the hospitality scene in Lagos. To soothe ourselves in the scorching heat that has been plaguing us in this part of the world, we visited the restaurant for a quick lunch, and here are our findings. Some of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, like the Eric Kayser Chicken Supreme, Spaghetti Carbonara, and Kayser Salad are simple options that perhaps indicate Nigerians’ attitude towards foreign food: non-experimental and minimalist. After ordering our food, we started with a baguette (which is a long and thin loaf of French bread) with olive butter, a complimentary snack served to customers. We were also served drinks called Freshness and Kayser Sangria. The Freshness was as fresh as the the name implies and had the most amazing textures and notes, with a mix of pineapple, orange, and passion fruit topped with grenadine syrup. At first, I was a bit hesitant to try it, especially since I was not in the comfort of my home, as my bowels are generally intolerant of smoothies. However, this surprised me and made me not want to stop drinking. It was even more satisfying when I felt no repercussions for overindulging! The Kayser Sangria was beautifully crafted as well. Sangrias are typically a mixture of fresh juices, liquor (optional), and…

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    Culture & Travel, Film and TV, Performing Arts, Travel, Video / 26 Apr 2019

    Some of Our Favourite Films from the Recently Concluded iREP Festival

    The ninth edition of iREPRESENT International Documentary Film Festival took place at Freedom Park, Lagos Island, from March 21 to 24, 2019. The festival prides itself on being a platform for filmmakers on the continent and the Black diaspora and curates content that is especially relevant in contemporary society. Like most documentaries, the festival’s select films deal with socio-political issues, but they are also heavy on style and thematic structure. In this piece, we look at some noteworthy selections that delve into identity, blackness, climate change, sex work, and indigenous African culture. Skin The festival opened with Beverly Naya’s documentary Skin, directed by Etim Effiong, which explores the problems of bleaching and colourism in Nigeria, problems that are deeply rooted in white supremacy and a colonial past. Watching the film, one is reminded of the infamous notion that anything fair is beautiful. Oddly enough, this notion continues to thrive in a culture that glamorises melanin—at least on social media. (In real life, dark skin is often disdained as unattractive and is associated with people from less affluent backgrounds). The film thrives in challenging viewers to understand the complexities and core of our identity—blackness—in its entirety, before anything else. Effiong shares that his most memorable experience on set was interviewing Idris Okuneye (“Bobrisky”), who fascinated him during the interview because he displayed a bit of nervousness and vulnerability while speaking about his reality. “As we spoke, I was mesmerized at the sincerity of the interview and at the paradox of my condition. Here I was interviewing “Bobrisky” about the essence of black beauty—an individual who had successfully rebranded himself from, according to him/her, “a poor, ugly, dark-skinned boy into a beautiful, rich, light-skinned celebrity.” They spoke confidently about their life choices and why they had made them, namely, because they were “unhappy…

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