When I was travelling round on my motorbike, I would go into villages, and I would first of all introduce myself to the chiefs of the villages because it's very important to do that. I realised very early on that if I didn't do that, I would be treated with suspicion and a certain amount of contempt that I didn't realise the traditions.

So having met the chiefs, they would then tell me who the artists were in the community, not just carvers. I was interested in shrine cloth makers, cement sculptors, weavers, potters and so on. So, I was told about this particular carver and people said that he was very good, but quite a difficult man, I was told. So, this was a challenge for me.

And when I turned up at his house, he was never there. Now whether he was there, but just didn't want to see me, I don't know. Finally, I was able to see him and he was very suspicious of me. He didn't really want to talk much about his work. It was difficult for me because I had no idea what his work was actually like, but I commissioned him to make an Ekpo urua that's a market Ekpo mask, which means a mask which can be seen by women in the market.

And when I went back several months later to collect it, it was very beautiful. And it was one which I collected for the Oron Museum, so it’s now there. And as a consequence, I therefore commissioned him to make a fattening room girl, which is the one you can see here. He was not forthcoming with any information. It was very sad for me because I like to develop a rapport with everybody that I meet, but he either was suspicious of me or was a very reticent man, which is a shame because I really liked his carving.

I never gave them instructions because I didn't feel that that was what I should do. And that was the exciting thing. I never knew what to expect.