ZUYARI ZAINAB GOMINA THE LIFE AND WORK OF A TRADITIONAL GUI POTTER IN ABUJA NIGERIA

Abstract

Traditional pottery has been very significant in understanding the culture of various societies. This is why many scholars have focused attention on its study. However, most of these studies lay emphasis on the general society rather than individual artists who practise the art form. In fact, very little or no attention is given to the individual potters who excel in this highly creative profession. One of these potters is Zuyari Zainab Gomina, a traditional Gui potter,  whose  artistic  maturity and  standard  are  peerless  in  her  community.  Zuyari  is, therefore, an embodiment of the Gui traditional pottery. However, unfortunately, her professional activities are still shrouded in anonymity. For this reason, this research was geared towards presenting an in-depth documentation of the potter’s professional life. A survey of other traditional potters in the community as well as changes and prospects in their professional practice are also examined. The aesthetic, functional, historical, stylistic and technical approaches were employed in the course of the study. The research, in essence, brings to  limelight the unique formalistic and  functionalistic nature of Zuyari Gomina’s works. It discovered that despite an unswerving approach to traditional art practice, Zuyari’s profession is largely faced with the challenge of extinction, as a result of low patronage and appreciation.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background Account

All over the world, particularly in African society, art is inseparable from the daily affairs of man. It is, in fact, more evident in traditional societies where it plays major roles in the religious, ceremonial and domestic lives of the people. Speaking on the African traditional societies, Ola Oloidi asserts that “Traditional African art is the soul of the African traditional community …the only experience the people cannot do without…because it performs mainly spiritual and religious functions”.1  In African traditional society,  it  is also,  in most  cases, believed that the ability to create is not learnt but acquired through divinity. Hence, people do not only revere their artists but also believe that their art products are mythical products and spiritually directed. Nigeria is a force in the discussion of traditional art forms, and for this, her traditional art heritage has been internationalized; or given intercontinental recognition.2 Irein Wangboje acknowledges this fact stressing, in support of Fagg that, among all other African nations, the mainstream of development in art can only be discovered in Nigeria.3  Wangboje continues:

As a result,  many Nigeria’s great  works of the past  now adorn the world’s major museums where they enjoy a place of honour among other world master pieces. These works have become part of the sum total of mankind’s cultural heritage.4

Nok, Ife and Igbo-Ukwu terra cottas, Igbo-Ukwu bronzes, Benin metal casts, Esie soap stones and Ikorn monoliths, among others, make up the bulk of those works. A review of available literature also shows that among the materials with which these great works of past generations were created, the terracotta or fired clay stands out in its ability to survive thousands of  years,  whether  in  whole  or  in  fragments,  without  disintegration.  Hence,  potsherds

undoubtedly, “make up the majority of the artifactural data recovered in the archaeological records, especially in Africa where there is acute problem of preservation of materials particularly organic artifacts”.5 According to Ogundele Oluwole, Miriam Stark, Paul Nicholson, Louise Gardner and several other researchers, this situation has made pottery a reliable tool for the archaeologist, the anthropologist, the ethnographer and the artist researcher who, through excavations or preservation, study ancient cultures of various people.6  Moreover, pottery, the most dominant of terracotta wares, is one of the oldest crafts ever produced by man right from the prehistoric times to the present, and the most widespread of all human activities.7

Anthonia Fatunsin further points out that “from it, a historical record can be derived not

only from the potsherds that litter archaeological sites, but from the continuing practice of the craft, associated, as it is, with traditional beliefs, festivals and other activities”8. Furthermore, Emmanuel Cooper observes that the craft is known to “…reveal a great deal about societies in which the pottery (is and) was made, so that clay vessels serve as essential cultural and dating indicators, as well as objects of individual skill and creativity”9.

In  the  Nigerian  traditional  society,  today,  potters  have,  as  much  as  possible,

continuously sought ways to keep their pottery traditions alive.10 Although they incorporate new ideas to their creative endeavours to enable their craft survive, they continuously work in distinct  styles,  techniques  and  idioms  that  place  their  pottery wares  and  practices  in  the mainstream of traditional art. Hence, like other antiquities and excavations, these pottery wares have continued to open up possible areas of research in a bid to understand the communities and villages that produce them.11  It is beyond doubt, therefore, that several research works have been carried out on the traditional potteries of Nigeria, but these are mainly focused on the general collective, rather than individual, traditions of pottery. As a result, very little or no

attention  has  been given to  the  individual potters themselves. Some  of these  potters still professionalize and are active, but no reasonable effort has been made to research into their professional activities. One of these is Zuyari Zainab Gomina. It is, therefore, very important to focus this research on the life and works of this neglected traditional Gui potter of Abuja.

Zuyari Gomina is a traditional Gui potter whose creative prowess is, beyond doubt, singular in her community. She learnt the art of pottery making at a very tender age from her mother and has practised the art for over 47 years. Some of her sales come as commissions from the Bwari pottery centre, while some are direct from her home town, Gui. Her expertise has also, on several occasions, attracted foreigners who visit the community to place demands and buy up her wares. In totality, her supplies to these foreigners over the years number in hundreds. Bwari pottery centre and, of course, the artist’s community confirms that traditional pottery practice has continuously faced a downward slope. In fact, presently, no young person in the entire community has shown keen interest in taking after the art from Zuyari. One, therefore, would agree with the researcher on the importance of developing a study that is focused on this individual traditional potter who is more or less an embodiment of Gui traditional pottery.

However, who are the Gui? Fairly close to the middle of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria is located a people with mixed ethnicity, the Gui (Map.1). Within the community are some Hausa, who are believed not to have originally come from the place but over the years have settled among the people and are, today, regarded as members of the community. At the outskirts of the community also are Fulani settlements from where the Fulani come into the community and mix up with the people through trade, religion and individual relationships. These interactions have played major roles in the language and culture of the people. For instance, Gui language is, traditionally Gwari. Today, however, the language has blended with influences from Hausa and Fulani. More so, the people’s religion is mixed and falls between Christianity and Islam. Like several other communities in Africa, Gui has availability of clay. The common market for the potters is Gosa market (Map.2), a nearby market where other traders in the community sell their goods too.

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