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Chansa Chishimba is a Zambian sculptor, textile designer and painter. He was trained at Nkwame Nkrumah Teachers College in Kabwe, Evelyn Hone College of applied Arts and Commerce in Lusaka, Zambia and at the Baltic School of Arts and Design in Skone, Sweden. He initially worked on paper, canvas and jute, but later started researching different types of trees and techniques of processing Zambian traditional tree bark fibre cloth. In 2004 he first experimented with Papaya tree bark fibre, which is commonly found around Zambia, and prides himself in being the first Zambian visual artist to paint on it. His art also often depicts symbols that are drawn from Zambian Cultures and traditions. In 2015, Chishimba was one of two assistant curators who worked with Lawrence Yombwe (Curator) to set up the first Exhibition in the newly built National Art Gallery. He went on to curate a second group art exhibiton. Currently Chishimba is the in charge of the Livingstone Art Gallery, which falls under the National Arts Council of Zambia.
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Lawrence Chikwa is a dynamic artist whose practice spans Zambia, the African continent, the United States, and Europe. He established Inter Art Studios in Lusaka in 2007, cultivating a professional discipline that attracts local and international collectors. He continues to work in his studio in Chongwe, Lusaka, collaborating with art galleries and cultural institutions. His work is celebrated for its ability to bridge local and global narratives, making him a significant voice in contemporary African art. His latest work touches on the topic of independence, on which he shares observations about national history and trajectory to the future.
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Fogha Mc Cornilius Refem (aka Wan wo Layir) is a self-prescribed severe drapetomania “patient”. He is an in[ter]discipline[ed]ary artist and an academic nomad with a background in sociology, international relations, and social work. He completed his Master's in social work at the Alice Salomon-Hochschule in Berlin with a focus on decolonizing social work practice and theory through what he called a ‘self-redemptive professional suicide’. He was a Humanity In Action Senior Fellow of the 2021 program and has participated in the untold stories project producing a short documentary about human zoos in Berlin. Refem has actively participated in the diasporic campaign to #BringBackNgonnso. He is currently studying towards his PhD at Universität Potsdam. He describes his dissertation project, titled ‘Ontologies In Conversation’: Restitution As A Cosmopolitan Practice' , as work that ""seeks to ‘pivot the center’ and theorize from multiple angles so as to make new approaches, themes, and questions visible in the current debate for the restitution of objects looted from Africa during colonization"".
Affiliation(s): Universität Potsdam Antikoloniale Visionen | Initiative Perspektivwechsel e.V. Humanity in Action
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Published Work: In Defence of Theft?: On the Theft and Restitution of Ngonnso’ and Punitive Exhibitions (In Fifteen Colonial Thefts: A Guide to Looted African Heritage in Museums); Embracing death so they may yet be space for life (In Atlas of Absence: Cameroon's Cultural Heritage in Germany) ; Human Zoos | Enforced Silences
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Godfrey B. Tangwa was born in Nso, North West Region of Cameroon, and remains deeply tied to this identity and the matters that affect Nsoland, despite his global career. He had his academic formation at the Universities of Nigeria in Nsukka, Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo) in Ile-Ife, and Ibadan in Ibadan. He lectured at the University of Ife from 1978-1986 and moved to the University of Yaounde in 1987. With doctoral specialization in epistemology and metaphysics and focal interest in Bioethics and African philosophy, he has taught courses in practically all branches of philosophy and risen steadily through the academic ranks from Assistant Lecturer (1979), Lecturer (1982), Senior Lecturer (1987), Associate Professor (1999) and Professor (2005). He is a member of numerous professional associations in many of which he has played a considerable leadership role. He is a member of the International Association of Bioethics (IAB), served on its Board of Directors from 1997-2003 and was its Vice-President from 1999-2001. He is a Fellow of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences (CAS); the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) on whose Biospecimen and Data Governance Committee he serves as a member; Vice-Chairperson of the Cameroon Bioethics Initiative (CAMBIN) which he founded in 2005; an executive committee member of the Pan-African Bioethics Initiative (PABIN); Advisory Board Member and Chairpersonofthe Cultural, Anthropological, Social and Economic (CASE) work group of the Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium (GET). Professor Tangwa has over 100 publications to his credit, including 10 books, 25 book chapters and over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles. He is recognized globally as an expert in Bioethics and African philosophy and has contributed significantly in the domain of bioethics especially to research ethics, research regulation and governance, international guidelines, ethics committee work and capacity-building in science and research on the African continent. He is currently a Senior Fellow in Governance & Ethics at the Nkafu Policy Institute, and Professor Emeritus of the University of Yaounde I, Cameroon, where he was Head of the Department of Philosophy from 2004-2009.
Affiliation(s): University of Yaoundé I Nkafu Policy Institute Cameroon Bioethics Initiative
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Published Work: In Defence of Theft?: On the Theft and Restitution of Ngonnso’ and Punitive Exhibitions (In Fifteen Colonial Thefts: A Guide to Looted African Heritage in Museums)
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His Royal Majesty Sehm Mbinglo I is the 28th Fon (King) of Nso in the North West Region of Cameroon, enthroned on September 6, 1993. As the traditional leader and spiritual guide of the Nso people in Kumbo, he has reigned for over 30 years despite challenges from the ongoing Anglophone crisis. As the Fon he is also the traditional custodian of the Nso heritage, and has led, been involved in and/or supported all efforts to return Ngonnso [Queen Mother of the Nso people] to Nsoland.
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Professor Bongasu Tanla Kishani ( 21 June 1944 - 23 February 2024) was a prominent Cameroonian philosopher, poet, academic and activist known for his profound explorations of cultural identity and the intersection of African oral traditions with Western philosophy. In 1974, as a student in Germany, he discovered Ngonnso's [Queen Mother of the Nso people] whereabouts. During this encounter, he photographed Ngonnso in the Ethnological Museum in Dahlem. This photograph became important at a later stage for the design of replications of Ngonnso. In 1976, upon his return to Cameroon, he initiated campaigns to restitute Ngonnso. His activism continued throughout his career as a lecturer and then Professor of Philosophy at the University of Yaounde I.
Affiliation(s): University of Yaounde
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Published Work: Les philosophies d'expression orale chez les Nso' du Cameroun : (essai sur la pluralite culturelle)
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Heba Abd el Gawad is an Indigenous Egyptian heritage and museum activist and researcher. She is Senior Curator of Anthropology at the Horniman Museum and Gardens, facilitating Indigenous community research, care, and access to cultural belongings from North Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. She has co-developed, with UCL’s Prof. Alice Stevenson, the AHRC funded project: ‘Egypt’s Dispersed Heritage: Views from Egypt’, aiming at amplifying the voice, visibility and validity of modern Egyptian communities in UK museums. She focuses on developing meaningful and equitable community partnerships as a means of building relevant, relatable, and responsive social and economic futures for colonially extracted and exploited cultural belongings in UK museums. Abd el Gawas is committed to community-led participatory museum and research practices centred around and respectful of Indigenous ways of seeing, being and doing. She was selected as one of the most influential 21 Egyptian women in 2021 for her community work in the heritage sector.
Affiliation(s): Hornimam Museum and Gardens University College London Disrupting & Reorienting Restitution
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Published Work: Egypt’s dispersed heritage: Multi-directional storytelling through comic art ; Strategic Narcissism: A Lived Experience of ‘Decolonising’, Inclusion of and ‘Collaborations’ with Indigenous Researchers
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Owo Anietie is a Nigerian 3D afrofuturism artist. His career in art began in 2009 as a traditional artist doing portrait paintings and drawings as commissions. He transitioned to motion design, animation and digital illustration in 2012 with a desire to reach a wider audience, as an African artist. In 2021 he established AfroDroids by Owo, a 12k PFP NFT project that depicts human life through the eyes of Africans. Each Afrodroid is a piece of art with increasing value and a number of hidden benefits that become apparent as the project advances. For the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, Anietie served as a technical collaborator for Looty’s ""Mnemonic"" installation. He provided the breathtaking visuals of looted African belongings, such as the Benin Bronzes, bringing the concept of digital restitution to life.
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Chidi Nwaubani is a visionary designer, artist and tech practitioner. He experiments with XR/AR to redefine art by providing captivating experiences, and seeks to empower artists and reimagine ideas of memorialising history and culture using technology. In 2021, Nwaubani co-founded the virtual restitution project Looty with Ahmed Abokor. Named after a dog taken from China and given to Queen Victoria as a gift, the project contributes to the charged conversations around restitution in a witty and anarchic way. Looty produces NFTs of looted objects in major institutions and sells them, with 20 percent of the proceeds going to grants for young African artists. Looty uses an entirely legal process that sends representatives into institutions to digitally capture looted artifacts, render them in 3-D, and create NFTs from them. The next stage of the project will be the building of a virtual museum in the metaverse to house the reclaimed artifacts, as well as expansions into augmented reality and merchandise. The hope is to extend the project globally, creating a family of digital looters to add to the virtual museum.
Affiliation(s): Looty African Futures Institute (PinPoint)
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Published Work: Looting Back History: How This Digital Project Reclaims Stolen Artifacts
