The ceremonial Itsekiri paddle, once carved from soft wood for ritual regattas and royal rites, is now cast in iron—heavier, enduring and symbolic in new ways. Once used to guide a canoe through water or mark an Olu’s rite of passage, the paddle takes on a static but profound presence in the Lejja installation. No longer a tool of navigation, it becomes an anchor of memory —linking water, authority and craftsmanship across time.

Reimagined in iron, the gbelebu paddle no longer moves with ease. It stands instead as a monument to the Itsekiri’s relationship with water, trade and ritual labour. The circular bottom, once meant to glide ceremonially, now holds space in stillness—connecting the royal gesture of paddling to the permanence of ancestral iron. It invites questions: can labour be memorialized?

Can motion become meaning even when stilled?

As the paddle rests in the shadow of Lejja’s ancient iron-smelting heritage, it unites metallurgy and maritime culture, northern and southern technologies, fluidity and fixity. It honours Nanna’s royal fleet, the Olu’s symbolic labours and the hands of craftsmen who once carved movement into wood. In iron, the paddle is no longer functional but its story is finally indelible