Ré-imaginer le passé
24.3.24 – 28.7.24
The exhibition Ré-imaginer le passé is currently running at the KINDL — Centre for Contemporary Art until 28 July 2024 and was curated by Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Isabel Raabe, Ibou C. Diop and Malick Ndiaye. The work we want to present today is Obeah: Voyage Au Bout de La Piroge by Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Birkoro.

Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro is an artist, healer, and Black feminist with roots in Gabon. In her work, she examines power dynamics and scientific fictions. This installation revolves around Andrea Manga Bell, the former queen of Douala, recounting her profound grief following the loss of her son, Prince José Emmanuel Berroa Manga Bell in 1947, and her 30-year quest to uncover the truth behind his murder. Visitors are invited to enter the imaginary royal palace as the scene of the crime. Flickering wall lamps evoke those gifted by the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline to the Cameroon royal family, which were installed in the royal palace in Douala around 1942. Céline was a politically controversial figure due to his overt anti-Semitism and Nazi collaboration. An audio collage intertwines classical music, a composition by Andrea Manga Bell’s father – with narratives of colonial entanglements, violence and lies, as well as King Alexandre Manga Bell’s incomplete confession to his son’s shooting. The artist considers her installation as a ritual of resurrection and healing. The word Obeah in the title refers to a healing tradition rooted mainly in creolised West African practices. Bikoro invokes this tradition, translating it into a feminist practice to help heal colonial trauma.

Obeah: Voyage Au Bout de La Piroge is made up of textiles, text, audio, historical photographs, wall lamps, pirogue, wood, mulberry paper, animal skulls, horns, clay, shards of mirror glass, various objects. It was created in 2023 for the first exhibition of Ré-imaginer le passé at Musée Théodore Monod, Dakar and is now on view in a modified version at the KINDL in Berlin.