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Chaka Chikodzi discusses his response to the exhibition “Stories to Tell: Africans and the Diaspora Respond to the Lang Collection.”
Bringing a new perspective to the Justin and Elisabeth Lang Collection of African Art, guest curators Marc Epprecht and Allison Goebel developed a community-based exhibition that challenges the problematic history of colonial-era appropriation, collection and display of African art in Western museums. They invited members of the African and diasporic communities at Queen’s, and in Kingston and the region to select a piece or pieces from the collection and respond in a personal way. These fascinating contributions include short essays, poetry, art, and personal reflections, some of which are captured in video form. The resulting exhibition showcases a rich, fresh engagement with and interpretation of the Lang Collection.
Supported by the Justin and Elisabeth Lang Fund.Chaka Chikodzi discusses his response to the exhibition “Stories to Tell: Africans and the Diaspora Respond to the Lang Collection.”
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it’s an African artist I am connected to
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the creators of these objects in the
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land collection in a personal way they
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situate me as a creator of historical
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objects my response is to the named
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artist in this collection of Whanui and
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George by me daily or or Guney we
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recognize the art objects in this
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collection as having an historical
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status they are no longer domestic
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objects that are used by their creator
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but are now historical objects that are
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used by the discipline of history and
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anthropology to tell us about who where
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they are the evidence that is used in
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the creation of our historical narrative
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is African people being part of the
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stone sculpture movement in Zimbabwe my
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work comments on our relationship with
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the stone and our use of the material to
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make our presence known to the future
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the stone itself tells a story about
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geological history it is a profoundly
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historical material that will outlive me
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and so in this sense the stone
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transports me to the future the
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sculpting process makes me aware of the
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present as the futures past
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you
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you
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