Page 70 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 24

Art & culture

that he would first attack 52 such that only the material in the hands of Whites was considered
Iranian sacred and historic to be authentic. Even the works that remained in African traditional
sights. This pronouncement communities and National Museums are not considered legitimate,
from Trump was especially only the stolen material held in the hands of whites is considered
bazar considering that he is of consequence and worth of entry systems controlled by the self-
known as a pure capitalist educated white scholars, Auction houses, museums and gallery
with no cultural appreciation owners. As a result of this exclusionary system, the world has been
beyond monetary value. His cheated of the true knowledge, meaning, use, and significance of
pretext for invading Iran is ACM.
its development of nuclear African Cultural Values have the power to transform the African’s
weapons. So why didn’t he state of mind and restore our confidence and guide us to reestablish
threaten to boom their nuclear our traditional Greatness. All of the mental damage of colonialism
and military installations. and slavery must be undone for Africans to be able to connect with
His action was an attempt to and appreciate ACM and its contemporary significance.
destroy the source of cultural
adhesion, values and memory The Western museums and auction houses must be required to use
of the Iranian people. a small portion of the funds “generated” over the last one hundred
years to fund institutions and organizations of African Historians
and scholars to restore the pre Slave / Colonial Mind of the African
After the mass plunder of so that we can embrace our culture and history with pride. African
African Art and its exposure museums, cultural centers, and venues that provide mass exposure
in the West, it was established and exhibits of AA shall be upgraded and supported. This is only a
as a global industry that was portion of the “Reparation” repair for damages due to Africans from
exclusively controlled at our 300 years of Holocaust experience which is mandatory to bring
every level by non-Africans. value to the return of our ACM.
Africans were completely
excluded from the system that Canon: A Mini-Symposium | Rethinking the Canon: African Collectors and the Canon of
established authenticity, value, African Art https://1drv.ms/v/s!AtVGqcmBiF3lqw1W-4XMha-7LA1l?e=9a6Dlo Sylvester
Okwunodu Ogbechie, PhD, Associate Professor of Art History, UC Santa Barbara,
quality, scholarship, exhibits,
auctions, and publications.
The African only place in the
predatory AA industry was to
find the remaining treasures
and provide them for sale at
prices that were sometimes
one-hundredth of their auction
value. The African importer’s
name is always extinguished
as the source and excluded
from the history of ownership
“provenance” of the works they
supplied.

African Art was colonized,

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