by Josephat Seleman Hema from Tanzania

„Africa does not exists”, jokes Moulaye Niang, a Senegalese born artist based in Venice, Italy. His jokes bases on the facts that the current political boundaries are artificial and reparative and hence do not reflected a common culture of Africans, togetherness and oneness.

But I guess that should not be a reason to not get a feeling of Africa. I was happy when my friend Celine once told me about this museum. Celine was also a volunteer in Tanzania for one year with another organization, she just returned from Tanzania in 2019 and we met at a conference in Berlin. And so we planned to visit the museum in Linden/Stuttgart together.

“The Linden Museum’s new Africa exhibition is a powerful contribution to the imperative debate on how we deal with cultural objects from different continents and times in a globalized world. What questions do we ask them today, what stories do they tell us? It is also about how we stand with our colonial past. The presentation enables the topic to be received and discussed not only in specialist circles, but also in society. Together with representatives of the countries of origin, the Linden Museum is testing new and participatory concepts for the presentation of the objects. The museum thus gives room to polyphony and says goodbye to the Eurocentric view. The exhibition also poses important questions about how we live together today, thereby contributing to social cohesion, ”emphasizes State Secretary for Art Petra Olschowski

During the visit I was amazed to see that across the miles from my motherland, I could see that still some precious Traditional African heritage pieces (even from my country, Tanzania) survive and are well preserved. There are so much you can see in this place and gather information on African Arts, Kingdoms, Life Style, Creativity, Freedom struggles and Beliefs through a wide range of presentation forms such as Games, Videos, Pictures and Real objects.

Through all those, you can somehow see, touch and feel Africa.

However, it is important to note that Africa is a large continent with vast diversity and a single section of a museum ca not say all about that great continent. There are so much differences from the tip of the Cape of Good Hope in Southern Africa across to the Central, sideways East and West to the Northern lands. The “Where is Africa?” part hence represent a little percent of the African image.

The visit to Linden museum was hence a moment of self-rediscovery and self-identification as the East African. It was worth a visit.

What would you say? Where is Africa for you? I am looking forward to your comments.