The Cameroonian performance artist Zora Snake engages with the unresolved restitution claim concerning a sacred Lefem sculpture from the Bangwa region of Cameroon. The sculpture was seized as war booty at the beginning of the 20th century during violent colonial punitive expeditions against Bangwa communities by the German lieutenant Kurt Strümpell. It entered the collection of the RJM in 1966 and is on view there in the permanent exhibition. On 1 August 2021, King Asabaton Fontem Njifua publicly demanded its return for the first time. With "A Snake at the Museum", Zora Snake brings this unresolved demand directly into the museum. Through movement and the figure of the snake, Snake conjures up spiritual presence, resistance, and the possibility of restoring relationships interrupted by colonial history.
Anschließend | Baraza, Kantine mit Hausmannskost im Rahmen der Ausstellung „r e t u r n“ Essen, Getränke und Gespräche
Credits © Masha Kuzmina