Osei Bonsu writing in New African Magazine:
More hereThe Congolese entrepreneur began his collection of art in Luanda, Angola in 2004, with the aim of unveiling contemporary art to an African audience.It is no secret that the vast majority of art produced in Africa does not remain on African soil. For the many Africans who grew up with this sorry fact of post-colonial existence, the closest one came to seeing the great artifacts of the Benin Kingdom was through reproductions in textbooks and on postcards. Sindika Dokolo is representative of a generation of Africans who see the preservation of the continent’s cultural heritage as both a collective duty and an individual right.
image courtesy of New African
In its inaugural decade, the collector’s personal project has entered the public domain, and can now be thought of as a blueprint for building an African collection of contemporary art. With plans to establish a new museum, his Foundation may be a pragmatic answer to the problem of only seeing the majority of African artists shown abroad and seldom on the continent – addressing the historical deficit of knowledge on African art in Africa.
Dokolo’s initiative has enabled the Foundation to negotiate the conditions of cultural exchange between its vast collection and Western museums by insisting they also bring relevant exhibitions to the African continent. The Sindika Dokolo Foundation is symbolic of the structural growth of the Angolan economy, led by a public investment policy in infrastructure, energy, education, and more recently in the arts. While we may have wondered whether there is a distinct lack of interest in contemporary production on the part of Africa’s leaders, Africa’s cultural operators can lay claim to its strategic importance in the formulation of national policy.
