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The True Size of Africa
Transcript
00:00how's it everyone we are here for a very special edition of the 77% my name is Kaya Ali and I am
00:11Okeri Ngushinado and we're here in Volkinger Hütte in Germany and I must say Kaya this place is
00:17pretty amazing back in the day this was an iron factory so all the production happened here and
00:23it's the world's only fully preserved iron works meaning you can still see the machinery when we
00:28go inside and this is a world UNESCO heritage site and they have events and exhibitions here and we're
00:34here for a very special exhibition called the true size of Africa yeah let's go Okeri why is this
00:47exhibition actually called the true size of Africa the first thing you see when you come here is this
00:52huge map of the continent and you even see how big it is true Africa is underestimated a lot yeah and
00:58you even see how many countries can fit inside here we have China we have India and look how tiny Germany
01:04looks like if you scale it to Africa with the main point of this exhibition is to kind of shed awareness
01:10and challenge some of those stereotypes and those cliches that we often hear about Africa from the
01:15west coming up on the show in Kinshasa where toxic waste defines daily life art becomes the weapon of
01:22a forgotten community and in Johannesburg we meet two local graffiti artists who face off in a portrait
01:30battle last but not least we head to Nigeria and we marvel at a new Guinness world record made by 15 year
01:40old Kanye Mr. Bail thank you so much for being with us today this is a really incredible exhibition thank
01:47you why is the exhibition called the true size of Africa it's the origin of mankind so it means we
01:54are all African and we are only losing and we lost our skin our black skin by doing agriculture in these
02:02areas and then there is certainly as a slave trade and the colonization and the globalization of Africa
02:09by force but it is also positive in another way that music and culture have been also expanding with
02:17this slave trade and the colonization so all the music basically is afro-global origin if you talk
02:22from samba to techno yeah girl that is very true it's actually like this king over here he was the Malian
02:31king called Mansa Musa and he was the richest man in the world and he would have been twice as rich as
02:37Elon Musk imagine a billionaire crazy I mean I've never heard of him before but it's really nice to
02:44see this representation of Africans him sitting on a throne he looks so good but it reminds me of
02:49another artist here Susanna Pilar okay looking so beautiful okay let's check that one out
03:00Kaya I have a question for you does this picture or any of this images look real they look real to me
03:07they actually look like Bridgerton characters they're completely AI generated so completely completely fake and
03:14the main point of this artist she wants to portray woman in the strong and confident way and in a
03:19positive light that you don't really see in media speaking of representation Kaya didn't you recently go
03:25to South Africa to also film with a photographer that also takes pictures of ordinary citizens I
03:31actually did he is a Soweto based photographer and he takes pictures of vendors of taxi drivers and you
03:39never see these people in mainstream media so he likes to give them a voice and represent them because
03:44they are Joburg and here's epic I need to actually show you okay my name is Sabiso Seleka I'm a photographer
03:54based in Soweto my work is about documenting people everyday people telling their stories giving
04:00them a voice it's important to give awareness to what is happening in our communities so that we can
04:06tell stories of poverty and no segregation and the difficulties that people go through on a daily
04:14basis they're not giving an opportunity or even a platform to share their struggles they are daily
04:24problems so I feel there was a need for me to do that to document and tell their stories best
04:30to mostly try to empower people you know black people who are struggling who come from difficult
04:57circumstances and they also need to see hope and find hope within themselves so they know that
05:04there's like a better future and a brighter one ahead I think it gives me hope it gives me life to be
05:12able to share my work with the world so that they know what people go through and possibly there might
05:18be help that comes for those people I think the current situation in South Africa is a bit difficult
05:27you know like it's it's even difficult to really portray but within my photo photographs you can see
05:34the difficulty that exists in SA the portrayal of Soweto in media is it mainly focuses on stories that don't
05:44exist you know because of most people that portray it aren't from here so yeah they tell the poverty in
05:50a in a shameful way not the way it is for saying like day to day is very casual later maybe this one
06:07said nothing for nothing matter what I do now I feel like I'm going to take little working for the
06:11week for most people I have to learn from a junior to talk to a new history and olur進 in the
06:15life of a localян
06:36behind the lens you capture the powerful stories without you know like it's without the stories
06:51being sugar-coated or someone misrepresenting those stories but the lens you cannot cheat the
06:56lens you cannot lie from what is being told through the lens i would like to believe my
07:01the messages that my pictures carry are messages of hope and resilience you know that our people
07:07they want better hence they wake up every morning and they strive to do the best they can with the
07:13little resources they are given i call it beautiful chaos i think from every chaos there is a sense of
07:20beauty you know the fact that people don't give up even though the the dynamics are are not great you
07:26know like there's like a lot of challenges but they still strive to do best to succeed so there is
07:33beauty in their daily hustle because they don't give up they they make sure that they push you
07:39know they push the boundaries so that's the beauty about it when i'm not in a good state it's difficult
07:45for me to see those moments to tell the stories you know but as soon as i'm in tune with myself and i'm
07:52a bit happy and i'm in a good place then i'm able to to share the stories of people i can
07:58do better i can provide content that is more decent and the stories are more they have more weight
08:08you know i'm not just documenting for the fun of it but documenting because i want to tell those
08:12stories and share it with people it's really impressive how his photography looks like and
08:18i think i especially like how it doesn't look so overly edited not only that he's a really cool down
08:24to earth guy yeah and he actually also cares about the people he photographs i mean that's enough
08:29fangirling from us i really like how activism can look so different from person to person i mean if
08:35you look at this for example what's the first thing that comes to mind or what do you even think it's
08:40made out of i mean i see keyboards and i see iphone pieces it actually also looks like you can wear it
08:46as a costume yeah exactly you can wear it this is part of an artist collective that's called congo
08:52astronauts which started way back in 2013. they make the suits out of electronic waste and this is
08:58basically just to draw attention to conflict over resources in the region we actually also have these
09:04resources in our hands and it reminds me of another piece from a crew called pap noir from kinshasa drc
09:11and they turn trash into afro futuristic sculptures it's epic but it also has a very serious message please
09:19have a look in kinshasa's limited district toxic waste lines the streets and cloaks the waterways a
09:27lot of it ends up in the njili river the city's main source of drinking water now the river is so full
09:33of waste it spills over cutting of roads and disrupting daily life for residents in the middle of this chaos
09:40sails a local legend mitskilomboshi lukumbi henok better known as pap noir or the black pope like a
09:47kongolese jack sparrow he navigates the mochi waters of njili as an artist on a mission from
09:53his boat he shows us the creative resistance emerging from a community drowning in waste
10:00my name is pap noir i'm a plastic artist and i live in the limete commune in the nandano industrial
10:06district this commune is called limete industrial because of all the industries that produce biscuits
10:13candies soap beauty milk and paper are located here in limete industrial where i live
10:24after each rain rising waters flood these riverside dwellings pap noir treads through
10:29the water on his way back as he shares the history of his neighborhood
10:33back then there were fields here we grew rice because here it's a marshy area it was only in 1982
10:43or 1983 that disaster victims originally from kingabwa neighborhood and victims of floods
10:50asked former president mobuto for permission to settle here
10:56with little help from the government and toxic pollution from nearby factories the neighborhood is
11:02struggling yet new families keep arriving with no space below people are forced to live on rooftops
11:09faced with this reality pap noir chose art as a means of expression through bold provocative art
11:15he exposes the harsh realities of life in limete to demand change for the community
11:22i live next to an iron bar production company often they buy end-of-life cars they only recover
11:29the iron from the vehicles the rest of the waste like plastic is thrown into the street
11:34when it rains this waste obstructs the flow of water in the sewers and gutters thus preventing
11:40its normal drainage that's where i got the inspiration to create my first costume
11:49pounding drums draw the attention of curious crowds passing by pap noir and his crew are using
11:54street performance as a form of protest their art is a bold statement against the unchecked dumping of waste
12:05this work is unique and wearing it gives me the feeling of transforming myself in the face of the
12:10current problem that makes us suffer for his next performance pap noir draws inspiration from his ancestors
12:18his performance is a window into the ancestral strength and way of life of our ancestors mola is
12:26the white paint applied to the body formerly used as a remedy to beautify the skin it was also used
12:32during ancestral ceremonies today this practice is neglected which explains current problems such as
12:38pollution a consequence of disrespecting ancestral values and practices
12:49the impact is immediate residents stop to watch some take photos with all eyes on him
12:56pap noir ceases the moment to share his message
12:58as a people let's not throw our waste in the street let's not throw plastic in landfills in order to
13:07protect our environment to my fellow artists i can only encourage them to persevere in their denunciation
13:16whatever the obstacles a solution will eventually emerge with god's help
13:19the road to clean streets and waterways is long but not impossible bold artists like pap noire remind
13:32us that the future of our cities rivers and communities is in our hands art has sparked the conversation
13:39now it's up to the people to carry it forward
13:42oh no we have a long way to go hey millions of people are being exploited in drc today yeah it's
13:51hectic though that really is hey what's this and they're just like chilling in a cabinet and don't
13:57these things actually carry meaning i mean i'm not super superstitious you know but the thing is every
14:03time i see these artifacts or masks like this i always just feel like you know doesn't it remind
14:08your ancestors yeah and it always stirs up the conversation whether this belongs in a museum or
14:14in someone's living room same thing with looted art should it be in european museums or back on the
14:19continent but i actually saw something about this on instagram just the other day let me show you
14:27europe holds the largest collection of african artifacts so why haven't they been returned to their
14:32rightful owners major institutions like the british museum the lover or germany's pergamon museum don't
14:42want to give up their star exhibits doing so would mean giving up on part of their reason to exist
14:49for the rautenstrauch jost museum in germany it became clear that the artifacts should go back to
14:55where they belong curators searched the museum's archives and found more than 90 of the so-called
15:02benin bronzes the kingdom of benin was a powerful west african empire located in what is now
15:09southern nigeria it flourished for centuries known for its sophisticated political system remarkable art
15:16and vast trade networks for art historian pedro lari waller removing the inventory numbers from the
15:25bronzes was a powerful moment it's like putting numbers on people and putting them in jail
15:33so taking them off is preparing them to go to benin taking off those marks that have no meaning in
15:38the culture and we don't put numbers on ancestors the benin bronzes became a symbol of the fight to
15:46return art looted during the colonial era the provenance of the objects is clear british colonial
15:53forces looted them in a brutal raid on the kingdom of benin in 1897. thousands were killed as the royal
16:00palace was planted since then generations have waited for their return for me the most important
16:08thing is the change of ownership and that is change of power because ownership means control of a research
16:19of a history of a culture when germany returned the first 22 artifacts in 2022 the plan was to build a
16:26museum for the statues in nigeria with german support but that never happened instead former
16:33president muhammadu buhari handed them over to the royal family of benin in edo state a lot of people
16:40weren't happy they asked shouldn't the public be able to see them and didn't the former benin kings
16:47participate in the slave trade who gets to decide over the fate of millions of artifacts lying dormant
16:54in museum depots and private collections the case has not made it easier for african communities to
17:02reclaim their stolen heritage some european museums have even paused returns adding new conditions all
17:09this for objects that were never theirs to begin with we have seen so much art throughout the show
17:17and all from different parts of the continent and each one has their own message that they're trying
17:22to send but i'm really curious is graffiti considered art or is it maybe just someone you know taking the
17:29spray paint and then just like tagging the wall or something like that girl that's a really big
17:34question within the art industry but in jobook for example we have a lot of graffiti which are all
17:40politically driven and on the other hand we also have a lot of names seemingly gang names
17:46and what do i know we spoke to two graffiti artists from joburg and let's hear what they have to say
17:54the walls of johannesburg breathe with color a living canvas where two gravity artists write
18:00their truths with spray cans first up that who discovered gravity in the stillness of lockdown
18:08graffiti followed me in the streets it was during lockdown the roads were empty everything was open and
18:13i could have nice fresh and just express myself in open streets then there's floyd who's got hip-hop in
18:20his veins graffiti is like a child of hip-hop right it comes from that that um that movement and culture so
18:29for me graffiti was always like you know it was always the the other aspect of hip-hop that contributes
18:36to the expression of of youth they've never met before but now they're painting each other without even
18:43looking when they're done their artwork will meet on two sides of the same wall hey what's up bro
18:49sure man how you doing today i'm good bro what's your name my name is pet pet yeah
18:56yeah that's floyd bro easy floyd pet and floyd went to art school but they weren't about following
19:03the rules they took the graffiti route which didn't get a thumbs up from their friends and family
19:10how would you describe or say like graffiti changed your life try to graffiti you know it was mainly
19:15behind a computer screen okay doing graphic design allowed me to step out into the bigger world
19:21graffiti's got its battles and these two have fought their fair share yeah cultural is quite
19:30stigmatizing or painting yeah even in times i've been arrested for for painting a wall the police will
19:35ask you why are you doing this just put both eyes on the wall and and and have you been arrested yes i am
19:42for painting for painting that's interesting i've never really yeah so one of the things i would do in
19:48my neighborhood is that i would go in the daytime right and then i'd find an abandoned space you
19:55know and one time police did stop they were driving past and you won't guess how it went they were
20:03just like hey what are you doing and i showed them my sketch and they were like oh that's that's
20:08interesting and then they they drove on you know and left and that changed my whole perspective
20:15because i was like oh okay let me try doing this more you know daytime rides you know and would
20:21you say do you know anyone else in your family who was an artist none at all man not at all so you
20:27can't trace maybe yeah i can't trace it man you're a very small family yeah i'll be in the process of
20:33extending the family thank you very much okay i like that i found myself a very supportive partner
20:40that's good i'm i'm i'm in the same boat you know yeah my partner's also very supportive you know
20:49three hours of listening sketching and peeling back layers now it's time to face the person behind the
20:55voice yeah i'm done are you done ah fantastic man let me greet you bro
21:00oh you made a cartoon of me i liked i liked uh so i got a hint you got a cap so i tried man yeah
21:15first impression i mean that was that was fun actually um you know it's it's very reminiscent of
21:21the process of being a graffiti artist you know you end up you do sometimes meet people you've never met
21:28before in any case and you guys just jam right uh my thoughts was already painted as fantastic you
21:34know i didn't think i would get a portrait in my lifetime of myself and i love the profile you use
21:40you know the side view profile was used a lot back in the days you know and i appreciate it a lot
21:50yo it's really impressive how they were able to draw each other just
21:54based off conversation props to them right what i really don't like though is that the art form is
22:00not respected within the art industry even though they carry so much meaning and activism what's really
22:07cool though also is that you see the murals just pop up randomly overnight yeah it's just like this
22:1315 year old nigerian boy who won the world guinness record for painting a huge art canvas on the
22:18floor here's autism and unveiled it on world autism awareness day take a look in a world where
22:25challenges often feel daunting one young artist is proving that the word impossible is just another
22:30canvas waiting to be filled with color meet khania chukwutagbo a 15 year old nigerian whose journey
22:36is as vibrant as his art diagnosed with autism at a young age khania found it difficult to communicate
22:43with words but where language fell short his creativity soared through painting he discovered
22:49a powerful voice a journey he started at the age of three you'd come home and you'd find that the
22:55whole all the walls it's scribbled you know you take a pencil and a pen he'll scribble on the walls
23:01all over the wall on the floor on the seats and so what we started to do we would buy rolls of paper
23:07um we would buy rolls of paper give it to him so he could keep him busy we want to believe khania is
23:14able to express his feelings his innate feelings with his works this year khani made history by setting
23:23a new guinness world record for the largest painting on canvas by an individual his masterpiece titled
23:29impossibility is a myth stretches over 12 000 square meters at the heart of the painting a multi-colored
23:36ribbon promoting autism awareness impossibility submit it's uh it's not a new title actually
23:45khania's first solo exhibition at terra culture in lagos was called impossibility submit from where we
23:52are coming from to where he is now who would have thought that this would be possible and then that name
24:02came impossibility is admit khania's art has been showcased in galleries and museums around the
24:10world from bustling cities in nigeria to the ground halls of europe in 2018 he became the first nigerian
24:17to receive the flame of peace award in vienna austria yet the stigma surrounding autism remains a big issue
24:25many on the spectrum still struggle to combat social exclusion prejudice and misconceptions
24:32some people don't want to be educated because they have a mindset of no your child shouldn't jump on
24:40the chair your child should be jumping up and down your child should be shouting in public and that's why
24:45we encourage khania to do this guinness world record because to create a movement you need to do
24:55something extraordinary to draw attention to whatever you're trying to talk to people about
25:02khania chukwutagbo is painting the impossible and inspiring a generation to dream beyond limits
25:08wow what an impressive young artist that was i really love how he unveiled that piece on world
25:17autism day and autism is not spoken about enough on the continent yeah he's truly impressive safe to
25:23say kaya we have seen it all today it's been really really an incredible day let's continue
25:28this discussion on our social media pages connect with us on tick tock instagram and youtube and also
25:35tag us in some of the artwork that you do we would love to see it thank you so much for joining us on
25:39this special episode of the 77 percent my name is kaya ali and i am okering gushinado until next time
26:05from the 79 percent my name is kaya ali and i am okering gushinado to the
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