I Was So Happy When I Found This Review At An Antique Store In Batlimore. It Was Like The Connection

Happy memory captured with my camera : friend who contemplates the city and walks in the streets of Santo Domingo passing by the Colmado corner.

Unidentified Edo artist, carved tusk, Benin kingdom, late-nineteenth century, ivory, 93 cm x 7 cm at baseRoyal Ontario Museum

Barbados Heritage District, honoring memory, land and spirit. Designed by world-renowned architect Sir David Adjaye. It will be built next to Newton Slave Burial Ground, the oldest and largest slave cemetery ever found in Barbados. The site will include a memorial, a museum, a global research center, and spaces for performances and reflection.It’s part of a national project called ROAD (Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny), which aims to reshape Barbados’identity and economy by making it a central place for learning about Atlantic slavery, from the Caribbean, not just from the West. Barbados actually holds the second largest collection of slave records after the UK. One key part of the project is to digitize these archives and give access to researchers, families, and future generations. But not everything has gone smoothly. Some activists, spiritual leaders, and museum workers protested the construction, saying it disrespected the sacred nature of the burial ground.Now, discussions are ongoing to create cultural and spiritual guidelines.There’s also talk of founding a spiritual university, in collaboration with Codrington College, to show how different faiths and traditions can live together. The Newton Burial Ground itself is powerful: about 1,000 enslaved people were buried there, between 1660 and 1820.They were laid to rest by their families and communities, often with rituals inspired by African traditions.It’s the only untouched slave cemetery ever excavated in the Caribbean.The artefacts and human remains found here tell us stories we couldn’t get from written documents alone. This project has the potential to transform how we understand slavery, heritage and identity. It also reminds us that healing history must include respect, spirit and the voices of the people.

Old and recent photos of UWI Cave Hill Campus, Barbados

The administration building was designed in the shape of an Akan stool, a West African symbol of cultural identity and ancestral wisdom. It was commissioned by Sir Hilary Beckles to reflect a collective will to reconnect with African heritage and envision future bonds rooted in that legacy.

i think it's important to archive our own images by integrateing the images of us made by the Others. Because their interpretation was/is made in relation to their perception. And we need to analyze it, we need to see the difference. Now the internet and visual ressources are a tool to disseminate our perception beyond their representation.

The more I study and the more I meet myself that all the kind of African studies: African ethnology, Noirism, indigenism, negritude, Africanism in the Caribbean have never been able to achieve their ultimate goal of emancipation, freedom and education for the Afro-descendant peoples of the Caribbean; because they never could achieve sovereignty. These currents were infiltrated and parasitized by the imperialist/ colonial nations and their local allies (elites and oligarchies), for the control of knowledge and all that this implies. The black owned is really the solution for all afro initiatives, whether in the academic, social, cultural, economic, political, educational, health… one must self-finance, one cannot depend or remain vassals of foreign funds, of foreign interests, foreign ideology. In the future we can only be united among ourselves if we really want to be free.

Dans le vodoun ayitien, on dit que chaque humain marche avec son kò kadav = le corps matériel, son nanm = l'âme, son tibonanj, son gwobanang, ses lwa têt, ses mystères et ses anges. Le kò kadav est, entre autres, l'expression physique et actuelle de tout les ancêtres qui nous habitent. Quand je travaille sur les objets je me sens connectée à un tissage ancestral. Les objets sont plus que de simples ustensiles ou décorations. Ce sont des productions culturelles qui expriment des perceptions philosophiques, scientifiques, esthétiques et qui surtout témoignent de vie humaine !

Shepherd ,and his herd of black iron chameleons.

Lobi People, Burkina Faso

Art for Sale at Local Art Fair, Joshua Forrest, 1984. Madison Libraries

Welcome to my blog, Today I have had a strong desire to create a space where I can share my passion for Afro-diasporic cultural history, its critical reflection and cultural theories. I would also like to share my passion for art that is inspired by this world. I hope to build a community with which to exchange, discuss and learn.