A petition to stop the selling of stolen sacred Igbo Sculptures; stolen during the Biafra war, is currently gaining grounds.
The Biafra war also referred to as The Nigerian Civil War was a civil war in Nigeria; fought between the government of Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra from 6 July 1967 to 15 January 1970. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people.
The war was a very dark period for the Igbo people and it is often referred to as a genocide; lots of protests were held in other countries against the killings happening in Igbo land.
But, not only were people being killed, Art works and sacred Igbo Sculptures belonging to the people were looted; and taken to Europe and other parts of the world. Some of those artworks are about to be auctioned at Christie’s.
However, to stop the auction and bring about a return of the artworks to Igbo land, a petition is up on change.org.
Petition To Return Stolen Sacred Igbo Sculptures
The petition reads; “As the world awakens to the reality of systemic racial injustice and inequality, thanks to the #BlackLivesMatter movement; we must not forget that it is not just the black body, but also black culture, identity and especially art that is being misappropriated.
Between 1967 and 1970 as the Nigerian Biafran civil war raged on and while more than 3 million innocent civilians were dying; Mr Kerchache, a renowned European treasure hunter was in the heartland of Biafra; not in any way to assist the starving children nor to provide any assistance. Instead, as children died of starvation; he was on a hunting spree for our cultural heritage.
Overnight, COUNTLESS Alusi (sacred sculptures) disappeared from communal shrines in Umuoji; today’s Anambra state. These art raids were sponsored by rich dealers and their even richer European and the American client collectors .
Christie’s plans to auction off two of these sacred Alusi; not minding that these were looted off in the darkest years of the Biafran War.
We are demanding Christie’s stops the auction of these ill-acquired sacred Igbo sculptures so that they be returned to their rightful homes!
#BlackArtsMatter
#MyHeritageMatters