RECLAIMING OUR HISTORY AND IDENTITY THROUGH ART
In an interview with Vibe, Molosi says that as Africans we are the descendants of a people whose corpses Europeans stole to exhibit in Europe for entertainment. “We are the country that went ahead and buried El Negro’s remains with no protest even though some of his body parts and grave goods remain in Spain. We are also the nation that too-conveniently omits this important story from national knowledge because our curricula remain resolutely colonised. It is the time to stand upright and decolonise our self-knowledge as Africans.” Moremi explains that the inspiration for Ancestor comes from their mutual compassion towards Africanness. “We realise that much has been robbed from our own self through the colonial project. Ancestor is an attempt at recognising what has been lost, what has been corrupted and reclaiming what we lost and healing wounds of colonial corruption.” He also says that decolonisation is not a one-person project. “It must be understood as a complex process that involves many intersections of personhood, patriarchy, gender and sexual identity. It is because of this complexity that Ancestor cannot be staged through one medium alone, this collaboration is symbolic, it takes to reclaim our history, understanding that we are complex human beings who perceive the world through different lenses.” He adds that many young Africans do not value their own history because they have been, and continue to be taught that is not worth the paper it is written on. “We must first dispel this myth and teach young people that our history is beautiful and deserves documentation. We need young artists to document and draw inspiration from their origin stories instead of continuing the slavish reproduction of western pop-culture.” Molosi and Moremi first met a few years ago through Letlhogonolo’s DM Media company. Says Molosi: “It was when I told Letlhogonolo about El Negro a few months ago though that we both knew we had to do something to honor and acknowledge El Negro. I took Letlhogonolo to El Negro’s grave at Tsholofelo Park in Gaborone and, having understood the magnitude of this story, he was shocked to the wretched state that the grave is in. That sight broke both our hearts and led us eventually to this work.” Molosi explains that everything about this story is a study in who we Africans have and continue to be. “We are the descendants of a people whose corpses Europeans stole to exhibit in Europe for entertainment. We are the country that went ahead and buried El Negro’s remains with no protest even though some of his body parts and grave goods remain in Spain. We are also the nation that too-conveniently omits this important story from national knowledge because our curricula remain resolutely colonised. It is the time to stand upright and decolonise our self-knowledge as Africans.” The two echo that through Ancestor they want to create a mood, an experience… “And an experience like that can only be enhanced by tapping into various storytelling devices. We are excited to reflect on the 190th anniversary since this Motlhaping man’s body was stolen from his grave and taken to Europe to be exhibited for the amusement of Europeans. His body was on public display in Spain for over 160 years. Naturally one wonders to what extent our treatment of El Negro’s remains on home soil differs from the treatment he was given in Spain. That is the mood of reflection we are going for. A much bigger African revolution is here and if we weren’t so focused on squabbles between politicians we would see and harness that African revolution.” The evening performances will feature singer Kitso Selato of My Star fame as well as actor Bayani Moilwa in recitals. Molosi says that Kitso and Bayani are some of the talented actors who staged his off-Broadway play called Motswana in Gaborone last year. “This is the time of collaboration in Botswana arts. We just want to share the story of El Negro and challenge people to reflect on whichever part of the story speaks to them the most.”