Henri Kalama Akulez first thinks that educational work is needed around the issue: Restitution is a legitimate approach, ‘but at the same time, we must do educational work to question the way we ourselves look at these heritage objects and reconcile ourselves with our past’.
Then, he questions the culture of conservation and restoration of these works once returned. With this in mind, having notably seen these cultural riches coming, Kalama pleads for a department of restoration and conservation of works of art, not yet very popular with students, but ‘it’s a department with a future’, he reassures.
‘We say to ourselves that these works will eventually return, but who are the people who will have to handle them, preserve them, restore them if some of them are not well preserved?’
And he adds: ‘Our contribution to this process is to have created this department as a sort of hospital which would receive works of art which must be taken care of if they are not in good condition or those which already are and who must have regular checks to stay that way for as long as possible.’
