Few in this day and age would be unfamiliar with the tragic and often brutal history of African oppression at the hands of colonizing forces. Over a period of almost four centuries, more than four million Africans were transported to North America and the Caribbean Islands in the Atlantic slave trade. Taken from their homeland and separated from their tribes and families, they were enslaved in a so-called ‘brave’ new world.
In such an unfamiliar environment, it was only natural that dispossessed souls would cling to the vital memories of home and tradition. And elements of African culture such as religion, language, folklore and artistic traditions and history endured, despite furious attempts on the parts of their oppressors to eradicate these remnants of independence.
These circumstances, in turn, led to the creation of what theorists coined as being the African Diaspora. In simple terms, this is the story of how the African people, though scattered across the world, managed to retain both their tradition and identity. And so, when the African nation of Senegal plays host to the upcoming 3rd World Festival Of Black Arts in 2007, it will be doing more then just showcasing the artistic talents of its people. It will be continuing the struggle first fought by its ancestral forefathers to retain the culture and knowledge that forms the bedrock of African history and place.
Historically, this challenge of retaining grasp of history and place within a deconstructed culture provided the African artist in contemporary society a great political dilemma. In his essay The Black Arts Movement renowned academic and historian Larry Neal called on Black artists to “create new forms and new values… [to] create a new history…” one that rises above the misery of the past but at the same time never forgets or neglects the legacy left by predecessors. Black people, he believes had to realize the quest of black survival was at the core of the art they created.
Another noted academic, N’Gone Fall, when speaking at a symposium on the place of Black Art in the modern world in 2002 also argued that artists need a mirror environment to flourish. “Most of the curators, magazines, museums, galleries, journalists, critics and art collectors shaping the art world are in the west” he says, and this poses a critical problem. According to Fall, the job of curators when defining what contemporary African art should be, and how it is valued, is something that only someone with an outside view is capable of.
These beliefs are strongly supported by many within the Black community, and an event such as the 3rd World Festival Of Black Arts aims to both augment and challenge these principles. Like its two predecessors, the festival’s theme will be one of great relevance to the African community around the world.
The inaugural World Festival Of Black Arts took place in Dakar in April, 1966 with the theme: The significance of black arts in the life of people and for the people. The second was held in Lagos in 1977, and looked at Black civilization and education. And next year, the second World Festival of Black Arts, (a key projects initiated by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade), will again take place in Dakar, Senegal, in June 2007, and is expected to examine the African Renaissance, and feature, as its country of focus, Brazil, which has the second largest black population in the world, after Nigeria.
As indicative by the length of time between festivals, getting the message out is proving a lengthy, arduous process. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade however sees this artistic forum as critical. It carries on the important tradition begun decades before, where black artists sought to address what many still believe to be the disenfranchisement, misrepresentation, and marginalisation of Black art and culture in the modern world. The need to bridge the gap between black artist’s both within the African continent as well as their fellow artists across the globe in this artistic showcase, has been the basis for the creation of the pending 3rd World Festival of Black Arts which will be simultaneously launched in France, America and Nigeria.
At the press conference held to launch the Festival, the Senegalese President said the event, like those preceding it, would “help us to get away from soulless materialism through a dialogue between the various cultures” and give the stories and talents of the African nation the global attention they so rightly deserve but which has, in many cases, been denied them.
Significantly, according to noted academics such as Professor Atukwei Okai, Secretary-General of the Pan African Writers’ Association (PAWA), the event will act as an “important forum for furthering the dual goals of supporting the recognition and integration of the African Diaspora as the sixth region of the African continent”.
Hopes for the event run high. The festival is intended to not only exhibit individual talents but also, significantly, help engender the inspiration to harness African culture as an instrument in achieving unity and prominence among Black and African people.
Cultural artist Pearl Connor-Mogotsi, speaking on the struggle faced by black artists and the vital importance of the work they do in furthering the cause of African visibility and the legacy of Black Arts, stated that she felt the historical oppression endured in Africa’s colonial past acted as a virus of sorts. One that worked in opposition to the never ending battle to carve out a globally significant niche for Black arts and culture, and one that events such as the 3rd World Festival Of Black Arts will directly challenge.
As Connor-Mogotosi eloquently summed up: “Nobody will honor us or keep our image alive or remember our contribution. We have to do so ourselves and record our history through books, literature, music and the Arts. We need our own icons, our own heroes.”
