Phil Omodamwen, a sixth-generation Benin bronze caster, speaks to us about the importance of repatriation, the new bronze artwork the museum has commissioned, and working in a 250-year-old forge in Banbury! Phil Omodamwen is a sixth-generation bronze caster from Benin City in Nigeria. He is a member of just one of 11 families licenced by the Kingdom of Benin to practice traditional bronze casting. He uses the lost wax method of bronze casting to produce his pieces, working in traditional ways which have been passed down through generations of fathers and sons.
He is working with the Making the Museum project to inform our understanding of lost wax bronze casting processes, helping us to better understand their detail and intricacy. However, Phil’s collaboration with the museum is also helping us to confront the theft of works from Benin in 1897.
The piece the museum has commissioned him to make – a brand new Benin bronze plaque, titled "Looting of the Oba's Palace in 1897" – shows what the altar in the palace would have looked like before 1897 on the left, and British soldiers in the act of looting on the right. This piece will help us to tell this history in the museum, and its purchase supports the continuation of traditional bronze casting practices in Benin today.
This plaque is the first of its kind to be produced - the only piece depicting the looting - and at c.80cm tall also one of the largest! It will make quite an impact in the museum displays and we hope you will come and visit the new display when it is installed mid-2026!
In this episode, listen to Phil discuss why the repatriation of Benin bronze artworks is important, as well as learning about the lost wax casting process, and finding out more about work Phil produced right here in Oxfordshire with Ems Orving, blacksmith at the historic forge at Tooley’s Boatyard, Banbury.
See more of Phil’s work on his social media pages:
https://www.instagram.com/omobronze/
https://x.com/omobronze
Want to follow along when we’re talking about collections items?
Numerous bells from Benin are discussed (and rung) throughout this episode. The bells in our collection that are from Benin are:
1900.39.10 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38732)
1900.39.11 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38733)
1917.38.1 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38734)
1917.38.2 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38735)
1941.2.117 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38736)
1941.2.118 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38737)
1941.2.119 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38738)
The items Phil has made for the museum have not yet been added to the online catalogue, but you can view images of the commissioned plaque in posts from Friday 28th November 2025 on the museum’s social media accounts:
https://bsky.app/profile/pittriversmuseum.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/pittriversmuseum/
https://x.com/Pitt_Rivers
You can see video footage of Phil’s time working in Tooley’s Boatyard forge in Banbury on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_q-BfoGOPM&t=2s
This episode features sounds recorded during Phil’s time in the Tooley’s Boatyard forge with Ems Orving, captured by Tim Hand, Chris Morton, and Beth Hodgett, reproduced with permission.
You will hear from (in order of appearance):
Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Martin (she/her) – Research Project Officer, Making the Museum project
Phil Omodamwen (he/him) – sixth-generation Benin bronze caster
Prof. Chris Morton (he/him) – Principal Investigator (PI), Making the Museum project
Dr. Beth Hodgett (they/them) – Postdoctoral Researcher, Making the Museum project
All content for Making the Pitt Rivers Museum is the property of Oxford University and is served directly from their servers
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Phil Omodamwen, a sixth-generation Benin bronze caster, speaks to us about the importance of repatriation, the new bronze artwork the museum has commissioned, and working in a 250-year-old forge in Banbury! Phil Omodamwen is a sixth-generation bronze caster from Benin City in Nigeria. He is a member of just one of 11 families licenced by the Kingdom of Benin to practice traditional bronze casting. He uses the lost wax method of bronze casting to produce his pieces, working in traditional ways which have been passed down through generations of fathers and sons.
He is working with the Making the Museum project to inform our understanding of lost wax bronze casting processes, helping us to better understand their detail and intricacy. However, Phil’s collaboration with the museum is also helping us to confront the theft of works from Benin in 1897.
The piece the museum has commissioned him to make – a brand new Benin bronze plaque, titled "Looting of the Oba's Palace in 1897" – shows what the altar in the palace would have looked like before 1897 on the left, and British soldiers in the act of looting on the right. This piece will help us to tell this history in the museum, and its purchase supports the continuation of traditional bronze casting practices in Benin today.
This plaque is the first of its kind to be produced - the only piece depicting the looting - and at c.80cm tall also one of the largest! It will make quite an impact in the museum displays and we hope you will come and visit the new display when it is installed mid-2026!
In this episode, listen to Phil discuss why the repatriation of Benin bronze artworks is important, as well as learning about the lost wax casting process, and finding out more about work Phil produced right here in Oxfordshire with Ems Orving, blacksmith at the historic forge at Tooley’s Boatyard, Banbury.
See more of Phil’s work on his social media pages:
https://www.instagram.com/omobronze/
https://x.com/omobronze
Want to follow along when we’re talking about collections items?
Numerous bells from Benin are discussed (and rung) throughout this episode. The bells in our collection that are from Benin are:
1900.39.10 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38732)
1900.39.11 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38733)
1917.38.1 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38734)
1917.38.2 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38735)
1941.2.117 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38736)
1941.2.118 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38737)
1941.2.119 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38738)
The items Phil has made for the museum have not yet been added to the online catalogue, but you can view images of the commissioned plaque in posts from Friday 28th November 2025 on the museum’s social media accounts:
https://bsky.app/profile/pittriversmuseum.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/pittriversmuseum/
https://x.com/Pitt_Rivers
You can see video footage of Phil’s time working in Tooley’s Boatyard forge in Banbury on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_q-BfoGOPM&t=2s
This episode features sounds recorded during Phil’s time in the Tooley’s Boatyard forge with Ems Orving, captured by Tim Hand, Chris Morton, and Beth Hodgett, reproduced with permission.
You will hear from (in order of appearance):
Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Martin (she/her) – Research Project Officer, Making the Museum project
Phil Omodamwen (he/him) – sixth-generation Benin bronze caster
Prof. Chris Morton (he/him) – Principal Investigator (PI), Making the Museum project
Dr. Beth Hodgett (they/them) – Postdoctoral Researcher, Making the Museum project
The University’s inaugural San visiting fellow Kileni Fernando speaks about the significance of the San community items in our collection. Join us to hear about stealing fire from ostriches and shapewear made from ostrich egg shells! Content note: In this episode we will be discussing terminology used in museum labels that is outdated and that has historically been used in a derogatory way. Be aware that this discussion occurs between 20'30" and 23'50" (following the discussion of ostrich eggshell water containers).
Kileni Fernando is the inaugural San Visiting Fellow at the Pitt Rivers Museum, co-sponsored by the Africa Oxford (AfOx) Initiative and developed in association with the !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre. She is a !Xung-speaking San woman from Namibia, currently pursuing a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree with the Open University of Tanzania.
Since 2017 Kileni has acted as a voice for the San as a development consultant for the !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre on the West Coast of South Africa. She is a co-founding member of an indigenous San youth organisation called Ana-Djeh San Trust (AST). Kileni has completed several courses on marginalization & inequality, as well as a diploma in legal history. She has also volunteered as a community facilitator for the Women’s Leadership Centre (Windhoek, Namibia) on the project “Speaking for ourselves, Voices of the San Young Women”.
In this episode, listen to some of the work she has been doing with the Making the Museum project to improve the categorisation of San materials within the museum database and change the understanding and presentation of San collections within the museum.
Find out more about Kileni and her work at https://www.afox.ox.ac.uk/person/kileni-fernando.
For more about the !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre: https://www.khwattu.org/
For information about the AfOx Initiative and the AfOx fellowship programme: https://www.afox.ox.ac.uk/
To learn more about the work the museum is doing to address the terminology used in its historic labels, check out the work of the Labelling Matters project: https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/labelling-matters
Want to follow along when we’re talking about collections items? This episode features the following items from the Pitt Rivers collection (in order of appearance):
Denise Gross collection rock art rubbings (not yet individually catalogued - link to the YouTube channel for videos of these items below)
Ostrich eggshell water carrier (accession no. 2004.142.1110)
Ostrich eggshell water carrier (accession no. 1970.11.1)
Ostrich eggshell waist beads (accession no. 1886.1.492.1)
Tortoise shell powder carrier (accession no. 1990.25.1)
You can also see these conversations in video on the Making the Museum playlist on our YouTube channel: Making the Museum playlist - Pitt Rivers Museum YouTube channel
This episode features music from the Kalahari San community, featuring a gut pluriarc and 3 men’s voices, kindly provided (with permission of the copyright holder) by Dr Chris Low of the !Khwa ttu San Heritage Centre, recorded by Megan Biesele and Nicholas England. Copyright Megan Biesele and Nicholas England.
You will hear from (in order of appearance):
Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Martin (she/her) – Research Project Officer, Making the Museum project
Dr. Beth Hodgett (they/them) – Postdoctoral Researcher, Making the Museum project
Kileni Fernando (she/her) –AfOx Fellow and !Khwa ttu Heritage Centre consultant
Dr. Christopher Morton (he/him) – Principal Investigator, Making the Museum project
Making the Pitt Rivers Museum
Phil Omodamwen, a sixth-generation Benin bronze caster, speaks to us about the importance of repatriation, the new bronze artwork the museum has commissioned, and working in a 250-year-old forge in Banbury! Phil Omodamwen is a sixth-generation bronze caster from Benin City in Nigeria. He is a member of just one of 11 families licenced by the Kingdom of Benin to practice traditional bronze casting. He uses the lost wax method of bronze casting to produce his pieces, working in traditional ways which have been passed down through generations of fathers and sons.
He is working with the Making the Museum project to inform our understanding of lost wax bronze casting processes, helping us to better understand their detail and intricacy. However, Phil’s collaboration with the museum is also helping us to confront the theft of works from Benin in 1897.
The piece the museum has commissioned him to make – a brand new Benin bronze plaque, titled "Looting of the Oba's Palace in 1897" – shows what the altar in the palace would have looked like before 1897 on the left, and British soldiers in the act of looting on the right. This piece will help us to tell this history in the museum, and its purchase supports the continuation of traditional bronze casting practices in Benin today.
This plaque is the first of its kind to be produced - the only piece depicting the looting - and at c.80cm tall also one of the largest! It will make quite an impact in the museum displays and we hope you will come and visit the new display when it is installed mid-2026!
In this episode, listen to Phil discuss why the repatriation of Benin bronze artworks is important, as well as learning about the lost wax casting process, and finding out more about work Phil produced right here in Oxfordshire with Ems Orving, blacksmith at the historic forge at Tooley’s Boatyard, Banbury.
See more of Phil’s work on his social media pages:
https://www.instagram.com/omobronze/
https://x.com/omobronze
Want to follow along when we’re talking about collections items?
Numerous bells from Benin are discussed (and rung) throughout this episode. The bells in our collection that are from Benin are:
1900.39.10 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38732)
1900.39.11 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38733)
1917.38.1 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38734)
1917.38.2 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38735)
1941.2.117 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38736)
1941.2.118 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38737)
1941.2.119 (https://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/collections-online#/item/prm-object-38738)
The items Phil has made for the museum have not yet been added to the online catalogue, but you can view images of the commissioned plaque in posts from Friday 28th November 2025 on the museum’s social media accounts:
https://bsky.app/profile/pittriversmuseum.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/pittriversmuseum/
https://x.com/Pitt_Rivers
You can see video footage of Phil’s time working in Tooley’s Boatyard forge in Banbury on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_q-BfoGOPM&t=2s
This episode features sounds recorded during Phil’s time in the Tooley’s Boatyard forge with Ems Orving, captured by Tim Hand, Chris Morton, and Beth Hodgett, reproduced with permission.
You will hear from (in order of appearance):
Dr. Rebecca (Becky) Martin (she/her) – Research Project Officer, Making the Museum project
Phil Omodamwen (he/him) – sixth-generation Benin bronze caster
Prof. Chris Morton (he/him) – Principal Investigator (PI), Making the Museum project
Dr. Beth Hodgett (they/them) – Postdoctoral Researcher, Making the Museum project
