Chaka Chikodzi

2019

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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Autogenerated Transcript from YouTube (if available)

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0:11

it’s an African artist I am connected to

0:15

the creators of these objects in the

0:17

land collection in a personal way they

0:20

situate me as a creator of historical

0:23

objects my response is to the named

0:27

artist in this collection of Whanui and

0:31

George by me daily or or Guney we

0:35

recognize the art objects in this

0:37

collection as having an historical

0:40

status they are no longer domestic

0:43

objects that are used by their creator

0:46

but are now historical objects that are

0:50

used by the discipline of history and

0:52

anthropology to tell us about who where

0:55

they are the evidence that is used in

1:00

the creation of our historical narrative

1:02

is African people being part of the

1:05

stone sculpture movement in Zimbabwe my

1:08

work comments on our relationship with

1:10

the stone and our use of the material to

1:13

make our presence known to the future

1:16

the stone itself tells a story about

1:20

geological history it is a profoundly

1:24

historical material that will outlive me

1:28

and so in this sense the stone

1:31

transports me to the future the

1:34

sculpting process makes me aware of the

1:37

present as the futures past

1:48

you

1:59

you

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