The final closing of the Diasporic Connections: Ghana 60 Years After series has arrived. The Fanti-canoe will be exhibited at the OBA Imagine IC. We explored the admiration and meaning of the canoe and its presence in December last year at Imagine IC. Now several months later we can finally welcome the canoe at the OBA Bijlmerplein and talk about its meaning in relation to belonging and the concept of home.
After more than a year of talks, meetings and depot visits, one person became especially intrigued by a certain Fanti-canoe. This canoe was not visible in the current exhibition in the Tropenmuseum but stored in our depot. In response to the interest in the object, we started to think about how the object might be made accessible by a larger group of people. Who considers the canoe to be important? We spoke about this comprehensively and now made it possible to see the canoe in the OBA Bijlmerplein where the Imagine IC office is located.
The interest in this particular Fanti canoe, provoked important questions and conversations about exhibiting, belonging, working together with ‘communities’, and sharing authority. How can the museum share the collection and bring this ‘back’ to a ‘community’ that shares interest and heritage with it? This is an ongoing conversation we are having as well internally as publicly. How we could revisit and rethink the ways in which we collect and store objects, are issues we have been and will keep on discussing thoroughly.
The event will be full of stories, live music and presentations in relation to the presence of the canoe in the Bijlmer.
Photographs by © Les Adu
