The Intersectional Legacy of the Uhunmwun Elao: Art, Power, and Ancestry in the Benin Kingdom By Edward Dzerinyuy Bello

Abstract The Uhunmwun Elao, the memorial head of the Queen Mother (Iyoba), stands as one of the most accomplished traditions of West African copper-alloy casting. Based on direct observation of Benin artworks at the Humboldt Forum, this article examines the Uhunmwun Elao as both a political instrument and a spiritual medium. It argues that the memorial head institutionalized female authority while anchoring governance in ancestral legitimacy within the Benin Kingdom. The analysis also explores how the removal of these works during the 1897 British Punitive Expedition disrupted their cultural function, placing them at the center of contemporary debates on provenance, restitution, and cultural memory.