It was recently announced by the Municipality of Lagos that the Slavery Museum will be a reality in the near future. Based on a collaboration protocol between the municipality of Lacobrigense, the Center for Studies on Africa and Development (CEsA) and the Portuguese Committee of the UNESCO Project “The Slave Route”, it is intended to build in Lagos what will be the 2nd museum with these characteristics in the world, since there is already a similar one in Liverpool, UK.
O project was launched with pomp and circumstance and its roots are crooked, allowing us to identify the absence of a cultural public policy project for the city, the absence of community involvement and the idea that, even in crisis, we must find funds and take advantage of the “freebies” as usual, which enter into this project as the darkest problem of cultural valorization in our country.
An idea that when it comes to artistic creation, guaranteed visibility is a pretext to work for free, since the project of this museum includes the construction of artistic proposals offered by guest artists, as well as the architectural project that follows the same way.
At a time when it is necessary to rebuild the art valorization system, and there is no money to pay for artistic projects, the choice of works based on invitations seems to me to be the worst solution and the one that contributes least to the memorial to the slave to be assimilated by the lacobrigense society as a community project.
The public participation process that has been left out here is the one that would best fit as a solution and the one that would allow us to think about public policies in times of crisis.
A Museum cannot be just an architectural project, it has to have a social, scientific and questioning vision of the morphology of history, re-evaluating facts, perspectives and with that the city itself.
In the auditorium where the presentation of the project took place, it was possible to see that once again you start at the end, thinking first about the space and only then about its contents. It was clearly perceived that there is no solid museology project, and it was possible to witness authentic orgasms of an architecture that intends to be public and that was designed unilaterally.
As for the subject of slavery, there is no doubt that in Lagos there are unique conditions for launching the debate on it, either because of the historical evidence that, with more or less whitewash, has reached us until today, or because of the recent discovery that uncovered an important archaeological legacy that should be studied and valued, creating conditions so that it can be understood and framed within the scope of the city's cultural policy, which is adrift.
The discovery of a significant number of skeletons of slaves during the excavations that took place in connection with the construction of the ring green car park in 2009, is an event that marks a moment in which the city rediscovers itself, revealing what hides from a dark past, where history intersects with suffering and cultural integration of black roots, shaped by economic, political and religious interests that reigned during this period and that unfortunately still mark the present today.
When analyzing the legacy of this archaeological discovery, trying to discover the origin of the cultures that ended up here through this scourge, it is necessary to look at a colonial past and retrace its own history.
It will be important to start this process not only studying the bones and scientifically raising their meanings, but also realizing the presence of immigrant communities in our city, namely the African ones, and how their presence influences in recent decades and may allow building bridges with their ancestors, not only articulating the old anthropological discourse of looking at the “other”, but rather making an X-ray of our society, realizing its particularities and the cultural impact of these cultures on the city.
It is important, therefore, that any reading of this subject takes into account not only historical research, but also a set of reflections that raise the various views that may be had on this subject, making room for contributions from within several researchers of the academic community and civil society.
It is from the scientific junction of several areas that we will be able to start a process that will allow the city to see itself in the Museum that will be born here.
Finally, it is also necessary to realize that the issue of slavery is not an old subject, it is a present reality that takes shape from other layers, but which maintains active principles that remain.
The current worldview, articulated in the discourse of a macro-economic society, reveals to us that memory is easily erased and that heinous actions that we consider banned are repeated, in a society where human value seems to succumb to Capital.
This discussion can also be brought into this space, because it is necessary to actively speak about the darker sides of the capitalist system that governs us. I remember in this follow-up to the film “Moloch” by Russian director Alexander Sokurov, who in an interview said that he wanted to talk about Hitler so that we don't forget that he existed.
Now, we must not forget that slavery existed and above all that it still exists, and that we are all included in a global ship, which is no longer a slaver and which embraces all colors.
Author Jorge Rocha is an independent Artist and Producer
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