Five decades later, this request is as pertinent as ever.
The British Museum, the main subject of Owoo’s then-controversial film, still holds 69,000 African artefacts in its collection.
Major museums in Europe account for more than half a million objects and more than 90 per cent of sub-Saharan artistic heritage is currently housed outside the continent.
In practice, this means the African population is largely denied access to its own cultural and artistic heritage. “Very few of us get to see it.
You need money, you have to travel – just getting a visa is a nightmare,” says Raphael Chikukwa, the executive director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and founding curator of the Zimbabwean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. “We want to celebrate Africa in Africa. [So] people can enjoy what their ancestors did, and be inspired by their artists.”
