Restitution? Africa's Fight for Its Art (2022)

• 71%
• 2022
• Documentary
• Nora Philippe

Masks, statues, human remains, fossils, jewelry: Western museums possess hundreds of thousands of objects and works of art, most of which left sub-Saharan Africa during colonization. From the end of the 19th century onward, European countries sought to build the most grandiose museums with the richest collections. Today, it is estimated that 90% of Africa's heritage is outside the continent, mostly in Europe, especially in private collections. Since thefts, communities and countries of origin have been fighting for the return of their exiled works, sacred objects and ancestors. Europe has rarely wanted to hear these voices. They did, however, take the path of official requests in the aftermath of independence, and that of Unesco at the end of the 1970s.