We ignored our art, so the Europeans took it and made it theirs

As you read this, I am in Accra, Ghana for the Eighth Pan African Congress. It’s a talk shop where resolutions will be made and not be followed upon, the cynic in me says.

And yet, too, a part of me has a little faith that my presentation may nudge some who had not thought about what I shall talk about. And it’s about the need of appreciating and owning our own art be it literature, music, film or visual arts if we are to ever think of this continent becoming better. After brainstorming with a few artistic friends over the last few weeks (and from conversation I have had over the years), the conclusion seems to be that if we are to avoid someone else setting the narrative on what we should work on, Africans should seriously consider funding the arts. 

Why fund the arts? There are many problems this continent has at present. War. Disease. Hunger. Unemployment.

Shouldn’t we concentrate on how to create employment among the youth, fight wars, disease and hunger, someone asked. My answer to that is that it’s not an either-or situation. There is room to do this and still fund the arts, at least if we have any hope of having any true renaissance of the continent. The history of nations is known through its artworks.

What many remember most about 16th Century England is not its political leaders but Shakespeare. Works by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael and Bellini are what we know most about the Renaissance.

Austen and Dickens give us an idea of what 19th Century England was like.  Art lives way after the artist is gone. In addition though, nothing creates a powerful nation (or continent) as much as arts.

Just ask the United States of America. Those who fund the arts and fund them well to ensure good works are produced, set the narrative.

Because of the American policy of funding the arts, child soldiers on this continent may not know who their rebel leader is but they know Rambo. We cannot find Marechera or Emecheta in most of our libraries but we can be guaranteed Grisham and Sheldon.

Despite her stellar acting in Shuga and on stage at Phoenix, Lupita only started meaning something to us when Hollywood acknowledged her.

Movie adaptation

Some years ago, I was asked to write a piece in the British paper The Guardian. Some South African artists, politicians and yes, even businesspeople felt there was a crisis — the Idris Elbarisation of Nelson Mandela.  We have so many brilliant actors and actresses, they moaned. Why couldn’t some of them be picked for the roles in this all-important movie adaptation?

I heard a similar complaint from Nigerians on the casting of British actress Thandi Newton as lead in the film adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun.

Why wasn’t a Nigerian cast to play this part? My response to the Nigerians as to The Guardian was the same: Africa needs to own its stories.

If any of our dollar billionaires had invested in the film adaptations of these books, there would have been no need for the whining. They could cast anyone they want in any role.

African philanthropists can spare $5 million to give to retired African leaders for ‘good leadership’ as though those leaders do not have comfortable pensions yet pan-African literary prizes do not exist. Writers are sometimes in danger of telling the single story that Adichie warned about because they think that is what’s required to win the Caine Prize, Man Booker or the Bailey’s when you are African. Would it not be better if we funded something for ourselves? Mo, I am looking at you.

Our governments are no better. Most of them have a ministry of Arts but it’s just for show.

How many ministers (even those in charge of the art portfolio) can be seen wearing clothes by designers from their country? How many turn up for art exhibitions or book launches of their own artists?  South Africa, which had committed to funding the restoration of an important part of African history, the Timbuktu manuscripts, withdrew the funding last year.  And yet if mercenaries steal some of these works and they turn up in museums in Europe, we shall again start mourning as though the world owes us.

Shame on us for ignoring our arts.

Zukiswa Wanner is a South African author living in Kenya. [email protected]