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IBADAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
DIRECTOR S FOREWORD
This exhibition includes hundreds of hair combs, of ancient combs, and some of his type specimens 
encompassing examples from ancient Egypt, from are displayed in this exhibition - generously lent from 
all over Africa, and from Europe, America and the the University of London’s Petrie Museum of Egyptian 
Caribbean, is the result of an encounter between Sally- and Sudanese Archaeology. Petrie’s excavations also 
Ann Ashton, the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Senior Assistant yielded thousands of objects that were donated to the 
Keeper in the Department of Antiquities, and African, Fitzwilliam Museum.These included ancient combs, as 
Black British and Caribbean community members in did the donations and bequests of collectors such as 
prisons— part of the Fitzwilliam Museum's extensive Major R. G. Gayer Anderson. He was an avid collector 
outreach programme which engages with prisoners in of Egyptian antiquities, who had an unusual sympathy 
a number of establishments throughout England. Shown for; and interest in, contemporary Arab life and customs. 
a 5,500 year-old ancient Egyptian comb from Abydos The story of the later development of hair combs from 
from the Museum’s collection, the community members all over Africa can be told from loans from the seemingly 
remarked upon its similarity to ones they used at home. inexhaustible collections of Cambridge’s own Museum 
Indeed it was, another tangible link between the rich of Archaeology and Anthropology. Not only has it been 
cultural heritage of the Nile valley all those millennia a pleasure working closely with another museum within 
ago, and present day Africa and the African Diaspora to the Cambridge Museums Connecting Collections, but the 
America, Europe and Britain. unusual richness of documentation which distinguishes 
this collection has enabled the curators to assign the 
This line of descent had been noticed by pioneering different styles of comb to distinct and specific parts 
Egyptologists, notably SirWilliam Matthew Flinders of the African continent, often crossing modern geo­
Petrie, who, as part of his scholarly studies into political boundaries. Generous loans of precious bronze 
objects of daily use, collected combs from the Pre- and terracotta representations from the British Museum, 
Dynastic to the Islamic era, either through his own and from the National Commission for Museums and 
extensive excavations, or by purchase from antiquities Monuments in Nigeria, allow us to show the astonishing 
dealers in Cairo and elsewhere. Petrie compiled and richness, sophistication and invention of the African 
published the first, and what is still the only, typology coiffure. A  range of even more recent combs, some
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of them especially sought out and collected for this and case arrangements and to John Lancaster Andrew 
exhibition by D r Ohioma Pogoson, including some Bowker David Evans and Rob Law for their assistance; 
commissioned from living craftsmen trained in fast­ and to Helen Strudwick, Exhibitions Officer The project 
disappearing techniques, bring the story of the African would also not have been possible without the support 
comb right up to date -  in 2 1 st century Africa, America of Remke van derVelden, Curatorial Assistant.We are 
and the Caribbean.This latest incarnation of an ageless also grateful to Ayshea Carter who designed the witty 
theme -  typified by a bevy of inexpensive plastic combs poster and other publicity material. Most of all, however 
surmounted by a Black Power clenched fist, available in an Sally-Ann Ashton should be congratulated for her hard 
alarming range of acid-drop colours -  suggests that the work researching and curating such a fascinating and 
development of the African comb is far from oven thought-provoking show. Finally, we are indebted to 
the Heritage Lottery and the MonumentTrust, without 
It is fitting that this exhibition, which was inspired by the whose enlightened sponsorship this exhibition would not 
Fitzwilliam Museum's community work, has been very have been possible.
community focused. A  Community Committee made up 
of Crystal Afro, Patricia Brown, K.N. Chimbiri, Andrew Tim Knox FSA 
Crowe, Jahmal Crowe, Ampem Dako, Sandra Gittens, Director 
Felicity Heywood, Jacinth Martin and Michael McMillan June 2 0 13
have participated fully and generously in devising the 
exhibition, and advising on its selection and display.
Three responses to the initial concept of the exhibition 
have been created by Michael McMillan, in the form of 
a cottage salon, barber shop and hairdressing salon; by 
Atta Kwami and Pamela Clarkson in the form of 12 prints 
entitled Drawing Combs: Davunu / A fe Nutata; and 
Russell Newell who has made 10 combs telling the story 
of the Jamaican Maroons.
The exhibition has also required the valuable input on 
an academic level from colleagues in Nigeria, South 
Africa and Ghana, as well as visiting fellows from the 
Institute of African Studies. W e are grateful to the 
following Institutions for their generosity, enthusiasm 
and advice: Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 
British Museum, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, 
Nigerian National Commission for Museums and 
Monuments, and to private lenders: Crystal Afro, Elsbeth 
Court, Makeda Dako, Sandra Gittens, and Deborah 
Stokes. Special thanks are also due to Louise Jenkins,
Chief Technician, for skillfully managing the mounting
IBADAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
Additional list of acknowledgements
Rosemary Bodam Sara Manco 
Lissant Bolton Jennifer Marchant 
Mark Box Jean Michel Massing 
Fiona Brock Tom Matthews 
Lucilla Burn Cynthia McGowan 
Tao-Tao Chang Andrew Norman 
Alan Clapham Tonya Nelson 
Lynda Clark Ben Okri
Julie Dawson Elisabeth O ’Connell
Jo Dillon Sean O ’Neill
Jocelyne Dudding Shaun Osborne
Eclipse Hair and Beauty Julia Putman
Pia Edqvist Stephen Quirke
Catherine Elliot Anuradha Radhakrishnan
Mark Elliot Sue Rhodes
Trevor Emmett Paola Ricciardi
Sean Fall David Shaw
June Forbes Rachel Sinfield
Abigail Granville Thyrza Smith
Imogen Gunn Neal Spencer
Rachel Hand Amy Staples
Tracy Harding Charlotte Stephenson
Ellie Hickling Rachel Swift
Julie Hudson Lucy Theobald
Canice Ikashi Nick Thomas
Jane Ison DariaToma
Michael Jones DrYusuf Abdallah Usman 
Verena Kotonski Phil Wheeler 
Nessa Leibhammer Barbara Wills
Patricia Livingston 
Anna Lloyd-Griffiths
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THE IMAGE OF THE (AFRO ) COMB 
IN CONTEM PORARY NIGERIAN ART
Ohioma I. Pogoson
Institute of African Studies, 
University of Ibadan, Ibadan
Going by the sheer number of combs in the Northcote 
WhitridgeThomas (N W T) collection in the Museum of 
Archaeology and Anthropology (MAA) of the University 
of Cambridge, the combs must have indeed been 
personal objects of great value. For good hygiene and 
health combs were scarcely shared. Everyone owned at 
least one. W e now know that the collector of the combs 
had his ‘methods’ but it is not unusual, at all, as we also 
now know, for subdued and impoverished peoples to 
willingly surrender their valuables in time of need. It is no 
wonder then that there is a large number of combs in the 
N W T MAA collection and that they now form a large 
percentage of the combs being shown in this exhibition. 
Combs are incontrovertibly an important item in the 
lives of Africans, indeed man. Some of the earliest known 
combs are from ancient Egypt where they were obtained 
from archaeological contexts and were associated with 
the burials as part of the grave goods of the deceased. 
Until quite recently interest in the recording, studying and 
understanding or displaying of combs, especially in Africa, 
has been scant. It was limited to their common use for 
straightening out hair and their images being used and 
represented in the arts in Nigeria, perhaps elsewhere in 
Africa. W hat is clear to the recent observer; however; is 
that the attention paid to combs here in Africa today is 
quite different from elsewhere in the world.
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This paper sets out to discuss the use of images of combs 
in some contemporary Nigerian arts, how they are 
represented, what meanings they convey and what their 
users and viewers think of them in their new context.
As a product of art, the comb is fairly well documented 
in many Museum collections in the UK and elsewhere. 
Rendering itself to being decorated, many carvers over 
the years have found the spaces between the actual 
comb teeth, as well as the handle itself quite the perfect 
space for ornate decorations.Thus decorated, on their 
own, combs are art. Carvers are known to have made 
combs for purely decorative purposes as well as for 
utilitarian purpose but in addition, they have been used 
in recent paintings and sculptures. Artists who use them 
belong to the group that has been classified as those 
employing traditional images in their works. Such artists 
dwell in exploiting traditional patterns, designs and images 
and used them in their works.They are the ones who 
seek to preserve in their works some of these materials 
that are thought to be dying out today. African penchant 
for decorating objects is well known. I must add that 
with the coming of and popularity of plastics, traditional 
hand-made wooden combs and the art of carving them 
have suffered a great setback such that it is no longer 
commonplace to find traditional wooden combs or their 
makers.
What is a comb? A t a general and simplistic level, a comb, 
as it pertains to human usage for the hair is simply a 
toothed tool for straightening out curled or kinky hair. 
Because of the nature of African hair often described as 
‘kinky’, African combs often have wider gaps between 
their teeth and require a stronger and firmer handle 
to be able to force the curled/kinky hair loose as it is 
combed. Apart from their function as comb for the hair 
they have been used to decorate the hair; they are also 
being used as art; as a thing possessing aesthetic value 
and a thing of culture. Combs are the products of the 
well known and prominent lineage based vocation of 
woodcarving and in some cases they have been used
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UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
: yi-'.u •>
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as symbols to give unction to, serve and enhance the repertoire of such images. Among some commonly used 
potency and efficacy in traditional religion, spirituality zoomorphic ones, in and on textile for example, are the 
and power dynamics. Among theYoruba for example, lizard, the chameleon and the tortoise, local flora, as well 
the comb is called oyiya or ooya, verbalized to mean as coded signs and symbols.The comb is an ‘object’ that 
literal separation (of hair) but not of hair alone. It is has now taken its place among other culturally symbolic 
usually used to wish separation from all things bad, evil objects.
and inimical to human existence.Therefore inYoruba 
religion and indeed in Ifa, combs are symbols of potency. In a classification of the contemporary arts of Africa, 
On the other hand according to David Doris, “the comb Nigeria in particular Adepegba (1995) refers to a 
(ooya) on its own - the issue of suffering (iya) never group of artists as possessing a tendency to revisit and 
departs (ya) from it.’Th is is a play on the word ‘ya’ to adapt traditional forms in their works.This group of 
which in this case, Doris elects to add the prefix ‘i’ which artists, according to Adepegba, did not begin to look at 
then changes the meaning from ‘separation’ to ‘suffering’, traditional forms for their intrinsic qualities and possibly 
two very important concepts in the vicissitudes of life. adaptations until the mid 1960s. From Adepegba’s now 
A  taxi driver may be provided with a protective charm popular thesis we hear of names like Etso Ugbodaga 
comprising a comb tied up with all sorts o f‘things’ to help Ngu exploiting the equestrian form common inYoruba 
'separate' him from death by accident. It is interesting and Benin wood and bronze art respectively, Ayo Ajayi’s 
that all over the Southwestern part of Nigeria, combs deployment of forms adapted from Northern Yoruba 
share relatedness in how they are made and called. Oyiya and Nupe door panels and Solomon Irein Wangboje’s 
is a common name for comb among most Edo groups summation of the historical and artistic significance of Ife 
and is perhaps the only name used by peoples from the to theYoruba in his now invaluable prints. Other artists 
northern parts of Edo from where Northcote W.Thomas that have paid much attention to and pioneered the 
collected the combs in the MAA collection.They also adaptation of traditional forms include Ademola Adekola, 
carry the same significance and importance. the Nsukka group that has adopted the use of traditional 
Igbo body paintings in their works, the likes ofTayo 
Nigerian artists, sated with a politically motivated Adenaike, Obiora Udechukwu, Chike Aniakor and Uche 
pressure to source images for their works from within Okeke.
their cultures, have begun to pay significant attention to 
and acknowledgement of the local colour and imagery Recently a number of artists have started to pay more 
of the past traditions for their works, employing and detailed attention to the use of traditional forms.They 
deploying combs and a large number of other cultural have recorded a huge success of it indeed. Conscious of 
images. W hat we find today is a deep desire on the part their meaning and significance in and to the culture, these 
of artists to dig deep into history and the traditions and artists select, research and use these traditionally relevant 
the local culture for inspiration and materials. Artists, and powerful cultural symbols in their arts.The hair is 
painters and sculptors alike, such as Bruce Onobrakpeya, an important part of the body and In many southern 
Moyo Ogundipe, David Dale,Tola W ewe and many Nigerian cultures an enemy may seek strands of one's 
younger ones have adopted and adapted numerous hair in order to use them to do harm. Hair strands can 
local signs and symbols in their works. They research be easily obtained from people’s combs, especially the 
the culture deeply and use the materials they collect to wooden ones that easily develop tears and breaks and 
create their art. Indeed it is now quite easy to compile a get strands of hairs hooked on them. It is also worthy
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to note that an easy way of identifying depression, apart Plate 1a
from being unkempt, is by the state of the persons hair; Decorative Comb I and 
Rasta dreadlocks notwithstanding.The hair especially Decorative Comb 2 
when long, is on the other hand a thing of beauty in (Ebony)
women. Women's varieties of plaited and decorated Ohiolei Ohiwerei, 2 0 1 I
hairstyles are abundant They are often decorated with 
well-designed hairpins and combs. Combs and the hair 
and other associated materials have thus caught the 
interest of the artists. A  famous Nigerian photographer 
Okhai Ojeikere, has in fact dedicated much of his life to 
photographing hairstyles that are mostly now obsolete, 
leaving only his pictures as evidence of the richness of 
Nigerian hair styles. Decorative combs are now to be 
found hanging in foyers and sitting rooms, in paintings, Plate 1b
textiles and sculptures etc. but the combs are scarcely Close-up of Decorative 
being made today. In December 2 0 12 I attempted to Comb I
locate comb carvers in Benin, Ibadan and Oyo towns. Ohiolei Ohiwerei, 2 0 1 I
My survey revealed that the business of carving combs 
was no longer profitable for the few extant craftsmen. 
Chinese manufactured plastic combs have flooded the 
market and people have moved on to buying them.
The Nigerian combs from the MAAThomas collection 
in this exhibition are indeed a bridge between the old 
and the new. It is no wonder then that the accompanying 
illustrating plates of this paper contain images of combs 
as represented by modern and contemporary Nigerian 
artists from the southwestern part of Nigeria. Some of 
the images represented are caricatures that have been Another artist, Ifeanyi Onwuakpa (Plate 3, Untitled) 
adopted and aesthetically imbued with local' spirit and says he picks on forms that are common in Africa and 
used in recent representations of them. Ohiolei Ohiwerei combines them to make his pictures and hence it is 
is challenged by the richness of female hair and the comb possible to have a stand-alone comb.The comb to him 
that combs and shapes it to attraction. He represents the is a tool of beauty that has stood the test of time; hardly 
hair in a bun to form the handle of his pair of decorative changing in form over the long period it has been here 
combs (Plate I , Comb I and Comb 2). in Africa.
In another work by the same artist, he imports a whole Coming back to theThomas combs, they possess 
comb in his relief poly marble sculpture pasted on ebony significant intrinsic qualities.They are produced in a 
wood (Plate 2, Julian). wide variety of materials such as brass, wood, bamboo 
and animal bones and horns.They carry a great variety
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of decorated patterns that incontrovertibly fit into the 
repertoire of designs from Northern Edo land.These 
range from geometric and lineal designs to combs with 
circular handles and checkered designs.The uniqueness 
of the combs indicate they are the products of many 
different artists, some even possessing further northern 
Islamic influenced designs.Their sizes are pointers to their 
possible specific and particular uses. From the double­
headed combs meant for very short and very long hair 
to combs with pin pointed handles possibly meant for 
parting the hair while plaiting, to wide and narrow combs; 
some of them bear human figure handles, scarcely known 
in the arts of Northern Edo land.This is an indication of 
local capacities of the carvers to deal with the human 
figure, be it stylized or naturalistic.They were proficient 
carvers of wood, bone and bamboo, and skilled bronze 
casters.The works of these master-carver artists that 
are being shown for the first time today have not been 
seen or viewed by people from their producer-culture 
since they were removed from Northern Edo land 
between 1909 and 19 13.This exhibition thus provides a 
welcome opportunity to start a much-needed contextual 
interrogation of the Nigerian comb and its usage.
Bibliography
C. O. Adepegba. 1995. Nigerian Art: Its Traditions and 
Modern Tendencies. Ibadan, Jodad Publishers
D. T. Doris. 2011. Vigilant Things: O f Thieves, Yoruba Anti- 
Aesthetics, and the Strange Fates o f Ordinary Objects in 
Nigeria. Seattle. University ofWashington Press.
Plate 3
Untitled (Oil on Metal) 
Ifeanyi Onwuakpa
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The
Fit^william
Museum lISBN 9i78-0-9l57443i4-2-6CAMBRIDGE
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