sterms

Eku-ite-garri

the little humps of semi-cylindrical clay forms, littered all over every available space in the exhibition ground are replicas of the homemade apparatus used by peasant women to shield and control the fumes drifting off the firewood burning under the pan while frying garri.
The making of the clay humps, which is known in the igbo language as eku-ite garri, is considered a masculine task usually carried out by the boy(s) in the household, while the frying of the garri itself is done mainly by the mothers of the house due to the certain degree of expertise, patience and experience required its execution. The entire process of local garri production identifies one of the rare occasions in rural Nigerian setting where the bond between mothers and their sons are lauded and encouraged by the society, since it is the usual norm that mothers stay with their daughters in the kitchen while fathers go to the farm, fish or hunt with their sons. With the radical influx of technological development in the society and its resultant cultural interchange, the chore of processing garri is now becoming obsolete and thus leading to the slow eradication of one of the few stimuli that encourages and deepens that mother-son relationship. Juvenile delinquency in the society is now on the up rise, what with the tirade of negative influences from the vulgar associations with street gangs and most private media.