Liberty
© Omar Victor DiopThe history of relations between African societies and Western powers was characterised at an early stage by the deprivation of fundamental freedoms of the people of the continent. These were justified by the need felt by the domineering powers to impose systems allowing them to legitimise various forms of exploitation of the continent and its riches.
The destiny of African societies and, subsequently, that of the diaspora was altered forever.
Indeed, throughout the era beginning with the slave trade, and continuing with the colonial period, followed by independence on the continent and emancipation in America, black people found themselves in need to restore and preserve what had been taken from them: their freedoms.
On this basis, it is not superfluous to state the concept of Black protest to evoke a chronology of affirmation movements initiated for the cause of dignity, freedom of blacks, throughout the world.
Liberty recalls, interprets and juxtaposes moments of this Black protest differentiated by time, geography or size, placing them in the same chronology, that of a frantic quest for freedom.
Key dates abound; the history of Black protest is rich, whether slave revolts, marches for emancipation and against apartheid movements for independence, or against police violence. Yet, very few think of a parallel between the chronology of protests on the continent and that of similar movements that have been initiated within the diaspora to concurrent periods ...
The approach is allegorical, including the placement of symbolic elements, borrowed from the floral language. The tone of Liberty is not that of lamentation, but rather that of contemplation, solemnity and celebration.
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