ASTRID ZWEYNERT, London | Wednesday
THE British Museum is sparking fresh controversy over looting and cultural imperialism at the start of a major show of five centuries of African art.
Among the star exhibits at the museum’s newly restored African galleries is disputed art from the ancient kingdom of Benin, taken by British soldiers more than 100 years ago.
Campaigners for the Africa Reparations Movement (ARM) want the art returned home but the museum says it belongs in London.
”The Benin bronzes are part of our collection and we’re not in a position to return them,” a spokeswoman said. ”We’re committed to show them to everyone free of charge.”
The bronzes, considered to be some of Africa’s most valuable art with their intricate modelling, were seized from the royal palace of the former kingdom in 1897.
The work has been at the centre of a bitter dispute to have them returned to their place of origin, now part of Nigeria.
The ARM, which campaigns for their return, has labelled the taking of the bronzes as looting and says Africa is the appropriate place to study and understand African art.
”Increasingly, the morality and legality of holding art collections seized by force is being questioned. In the true sense of justice and self-determination, the Benin artefacts belong to the culture from where they were derived from,” said ARM.
Other highlights of the collection include a brass head of a Yoruba ruler from Ife in Nigeria and Asante goldwork from Ghana. There is also a display of contemporary African art in a bid to showcase the continuity of the continent’s art.
The British Museum, no stranger to ownership disputes, argues it is one of the world’s top cultural institutions and offers millions of visitors a year a chance to view the bronzes.
”The galleries will provide a substantial and permanent exhibition space for one of the finest collections of African art and artefacts in the world,” the museum said.
The new African collection is the biggest show yet of a total of 200 000 African artefacts in the museum’s ethnography collection. The exhibition includes 600 works in metal, wood, brass, pottery and other materials dating back more than five centuries and also showcasing contemporary African artists. – Reuters