We take a holistic approach to restitution.

We aim for maximum financial, spiritual, and cultural reparations to source communities, artists and the public who have suffered cultural dispossession through colonization and conflict.

  • Benin Bronzes being prepared for return from Smithsonian to Nigeria, October 2022. Photo: Ngaire Blankenberg

    Material and Epistemic Restitution

    An unconditional and complete restitution includes

    • Transfer of Ownership of tangible/intangible heritage: Physical return to country/ community of origin or a stewardship arrangement

    • Return of all associated intellectual property, documentation and research

    • Public Apology

    • Guarantee of non-repetition

  • Ditsong curator Motsane Seabela asks the ancestors for permission to work in the collection storage

    Documentation and Care

    We support retrieving and applying indigenous knowledge through new research, documentation and care. This includes:

    • Sharing decision-making authority among all knowledge holders

    • Revising Intellectual Property agreements

    • Revising language and terminology in labels and database

    • Identifying gaps and errors in documentation

    • Setting up or amending software, protocols, policies, procedures and practices for ongoing collections stewardship, conservation and access

    • Providing access

  • Aṣẹ: Afro Frequencies by Vince Fraser at Artechouse, Washington DC

    Reparative Engagement

    Our approach is to ensure tangible impact among communities of origins and new publics through financial compensation and efforts to enhance individual and collective well being such as

    • Developing new and improved Museums, Memorials and Spaces for Art, Culture, Learning and Memory through co-creation and restorative design

    • Reparative Conversations

  • Children watch video at Johannesburg Art Gallery

    Arts Education

    In many instances, the removal of important cultural and spiritual ‘objects’ resulted in an interruption of the transmission of critical cultural histories and knowledge to new generations.

    Restitution enables the sharing of knowledge to new generations. However many of the tools of transmission have changed- where oral histories and verbal stories were once the norm, now young people search for knowledge on social media, and more formally, in the school system. Our approach is to use new tools (short videos, blogs, campaigns) to impart old knowledge to new generations.

  • Art and Knowledge Production

    African art is not only an aesthetic expression of our cultures- it is an essential repository of knowledge, African art philosophy, technology , psychology, spirituality and more.

    Restoring our connection to restituted work includes liberating the knowledge they contain. This includes correcting, expanding and including information rooted in indigenous knowledge systems in collection documentation, research and interpretation.

    It also means supporting the production of new work by living artists and artisans.