Renee Mboya who keep artists in check at Kuona Trust reminded me that I need to remember there is a door that I can’t move in the gallery. A danger in trying to recreate what is in my mind is that I also imagine it is possible to knock down a gallery wall. I think ...
I love gumboots. I love all my 63 pairs of gumboots. The History of Gumboots Gumboots were first worn in the Battle of Waterloo, a battle by the British against Napolean’s army (French). The British and Germans, in gumboots were led by the Duke of Wellington (British). Hence the name, Wellingtons and ...
#Harambee63 is the online aspect of a project that maps out the history of revolution in Africa before 1963. It will place Kenya’s independence movement within the global context of freedom from oppression against Black and Colored people. The first part of #Harambee63 is an installation @Kuona_Trust that blends art ...
“People don’t defend abstractions. They defend concrete things, the land is a concrete thing, a dwelling a school, a hospital thing. The struggle, the enemy is a concrete thing.” [youtube=http://youtu.be/bvj0Feq5vpI] Samora Machel led the battle against colonialism, against the Portuguese and at ...
Songs were used as an archive for history in particular, histories of oppression. From the Negro Spirituals derived from Field Songs, sang by slaves who were working on cotton farms in the U.S., to KLFA ( Mau Mau) songs sang by detainees as they were transferred to detention camps and reserves, to Miriam Makeba, who ...
“I wish that all the world goes back to the words of Jesus and read the words again, because they are acting against God now.” – Gaddafi (1978) http://youtu.be/ZlvLthYwBiM A documentary about Gaddafi and his idea of Jamahiriya (Jamuhuri/ Free Republic) – 1978
A most interesting figure of PanAfricanism is Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. He seized power in Libya from King Idris, who was the first head of state for Libya, in a bloodless coup in 1969. King Idris had been installed by the British and was a favored leader. He had supported the British in the 2nd World War ...
“If you the chiefs of Ashanti are going to behave like cowards and not fight, you should exchange your loin cloths for my undergarments.” – Nana Yaa Asantewaa In 1900, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, a woman, led the fight against the British in present day Ghana leading up to the War for the Golden Stool which ...
“Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.” – Dr Kwame Nkrumah 6th March 1957 [youtube=http://youtu.be/AUVLbMwQZYM] “We have awakened. We will not sleep anymore. Today, from now on, there is a new African in the world! That new African is ready to ...
“It is fundamental to remember. It does not mean that we are a resentful people, but we must remember” – Aime Cesaire (1985). It is not only today that one comes across the argument made by fellow Africans, that colonialism did good to the continent of Africa. Some consider that went on for over 200years ...
