“Sankofa is something we’re already practising,” said Titilope Salami, UBC PhD candidate and one of the exhibition’s three joint curators, in an interview with The Ubyssey.
If we’re going by the number of pieces on display, Sankofa: African Routes, Canadian Roots will be a notably large exhibition: more than 130 works will be displayed at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology starting November 4, including contemporary art from artists in Lagos, Nigeria, Black artists in Vancouver and a diverse selection of items from the museum’s collection.
For Salami, this diversity is the point of the exhibition. “You know,” she said, “different writers have made mistakes in the past by generalizing Africa, saying, ‘Africa is [all] one.’” Sankofa offers a counterpoint to this misperception, presenting both items created in varied African cultures and modern art pieces inspired by those same traditions.
The concept of Sankofa itself comes from some of these traditions: in the Akan culture of present-day Ghana, “sankofa” is a word associated with a bird with its head turned backwards, representing the proverb “go back to get it.” Salami expanded on this definition. “It means ‘Come out boldly to be who you are, come out boldly to be your person. Don't be afraid of what people will think about you…’ You can’t take away your ancestors.”
This title was chosen late, after plans to put it on were delayed by COVID.
“There was this issue of Black Lives Matter in the US… we decided to do something that we think is more relevant to what Black people are going through right now,” said Salami.
The exhibition’s content was already relevant, but it needed a title that focused it on contemporary issues. “We decided to use ‘Sankofa,’” Salami said, “because we feel a lot of Black people, especially contemporary artists, are already going back.”
The importance of contemporary Black art as it stands alongside the cultures which inspire it is a major theme of Sankofa.
“The West [talks] about authentic African art,” Salami said, “and when they talk about ‘authentic’ they are referring only to the precolonial objects.”
Many of the objects on display in the exhibition are historic, but they don’t represent the end of the artistic traditions they belong to. Instead, they are displayed alongside contemporary art created in those same traditions. “Authenticity,” she said, “should not be attached to something that is old alone.”
The exhibition’s open layout leaves room for visitors to take away a personal experience of its contents, but Salami named the different elements she hoped the MOA’s various visitors might walk away with.
“As a Black person,” she said, “you have to be proud of yourself, and see the connection through all these different artists; how there's a relationship between even the works from Lagos and the ones in Vancouver, and the ones that ... are in the museum, although they are not exactly the same.”
“And for someone who is not Black [who comes] into the space, my hope is that they will see that Africa is not just one nation. Africa is diverse, and there's a lot of talent from Africa, and even Black Vancouver, and the fact that some of these objects are contemporary, that doesn't make them inauthentic.”
Sankofa will be open for viewing from November 4, 2021 - March 27, 2022. For more information check out the MOA’s website.
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