British Museum Trip

This is an example of a kanga which is worn as a garment by millions of women across Africa. Today kanga are seen as a symbol of Swahili culture and they often carry messages about health, politics, religion or sexual relations. This can be seen in this example which is from Tanzania and commemorates the life and mourns the death of Julius Nyerere, the father of independent Tanzania. I like the idea of the kanga as it is a widespread everyday functional item that has also become an art form and a way of conveying a message. This is further enhanced by the fact that the kanga is worn predominantly by women, and therefore gives them a space to show their opinions and beliefs that they might not have in official spheres.

This is a 20^th century masquerade headdress from the Bijogo people. The Bijogo divide males into different age-grades, each with masks appropriate to its character. Young boys may dress as calves or fish but older uninitiated youths assume the forms of dangerous and uncontrollable beasts such as sharks, wild bulls and in this example a sawfish. I thought this was interesting as it showed the fear of ‘youths’ and the generational conflicts we know were happening in the 20^th century.

This striking item is called ‘throne of weapons’ and is made from decommissioned weapons collected since the end of Mozambique’s civil war in 1992. During the war seven million guns – none of them made in Africa- poured into the country. From 1995 the Mozambican people were encouraged to swap their weapons for agricultural, domestic and construction tools. Artists then turned the decommissioned weapons into sculptures. I thought this object was interesting as it shows how violence became part of everyday life during the civil war by using the idea of a chair which is an everyday item. However it also seems to be a hopeful piece that is going forward, moving away from violence and trying to make positive about of tragic situation.