Daily Times

British-founded auction house Sotheby’s has unwittingly put the question of looted art at the hands of the colonial powers firmly back under the spotlight. For towards the end of last week, the New York-based collectibles broker was forced to remove at the last minute an intricately carved limestone Buddha head from its catalogue. Amid mounting evidence that the latter may have originally been part of a UNESCO heritage site in China’s Henan province.

Rectifying such possible missteps matters. Perhaps more so now than ever. After all, the world is home to a level of conflict that is unprecedented in terms of geo-strategic interconnectivity; including the pushback by non-state actors. Thus as poor nations like Yemen battle a man-made humanitarian emergency or the US threatens the International Criminal Court (ICC) over tentative moves to probe Washington for war crimes in Afghanistan — it becomes all too easy to dismiss the matter of wealth plundered from a different century as of being of debatable importance.

French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly committed to returning artefacts that were plundered during the so-called ‘scramble for Africa’ in the 19th century. Similarly, Britain’s opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has promised that, if elected to Downing Street, he would return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. Yet it is civil society projects around the world that are quietly taking the lead in resisting the colonial narrative that still endures long after the fall of Empire.

There is the India Pride Project that works on a voluntary basis. Whereby members spend hours trawling through museum websites and catalogues to identify cultural heritage items that need to be brought home. Chinese billionaires, for their part, are using their wealth to buy the country’s art from European holdings. Meanwhile, Britain is home to the “Uncomfortable Art Tours”. And although these are restricted thus to select London venues — the initiative focuses on resetting inherently racist narratives that live on in the so-called neutral spaces of museums and art galleries in the West.

It is hoped that such initiatives will help keep attention firmly fixed on the matter of looted art. Indeed, Europe has faced repatriation claims for decades. Many art institutions, backed by their respective governments, have long tried to skirt the issue by way of long-term loans. And while it is argued that this represents the quickest way to get precious artefacts back to their rightful homes — such arrangements hinge on applicant nations surrendering legitimate claims of ownership.

Money, of course, is key to this ‘dilemma’. For central to tourism to and from as well as within the continent is the latter’s rich cultural heritage and well-kept galleries and museums. But as things currently stand, financial profit is being made at the very real expense of those who were violently suppressed. Thereby suggesting that the European talk of exhibiting ‘exotic’ artefacts within the context of global history is simply another bid to whitewash a bloody past.

It is time that history was reclaimed by everyone.  *

Published in Daily Times, September 18^th 2018.