February 5 - May 14, 2022
From the Houston Museum of African American Culture:
“The Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) is delighted to present Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE, a monumental sculpture constructed from over 100,000 black LEGO February 5, 2022 through April 16, 2022. In early 2021, the Aga Khan Museum’s acquisition of Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE by Ghanaian-Canadian artist Ekow Nimako grabbed headlines around the world. HMAAC is the first opportunity for audiences to see the sculpture outside of Canada.
Nearly 30 square feet in scale, Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE is Nimako’s reimagining of the capital of the medieval Kingdom of Ghana to forge a utopian vision of sub-Saharan Africa 1,000 years in the future. With astounding detail, he uses the medium of LEGO® to explore Afrofuturism, the cultural movement that envisions Black, African, and Afrodiasporic people and narratives through a science-fiction lens. The artwork draws on elements from the past to give scope to the future, while providing an expansive foundation of hope for the next millennia and beyond.
Nimako in his artist statement explains, “In both concept and aesthetic, the piece represents an uninterrupted, unco-opted narrative of Black civilizations that seeks to reclaim histories, reconcile ancestral traumas, and imagine liberated futures for all African peoples.” In essence it is a reimagination of a Blackness that is not constructed against the backdrop of enslavement, colonization, and violence. As for the use of LEGO pieces, the artist shared that it “further evokes a futuristic aesthetic to capture architectural forms and elements from the natural world, transcending the medium’s geometric form.”
According to Aga Khan Museum Curator Michael Chagnon, Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE advances the Museum’s mission to “bridge culture through the arts and foreground cultural narratives that often remain unheard.” For HMAAC, “This sculpture allows the museum to continue its participation in global conversations that are occurring throughout the African Diaspora,” said HMAAC CEO John Guess, Jr.
Related programming for the exhibition begins with a February 12 talk by Johns Hopkins University Center for Africana Studies Director Minkah Makalani, with an additional lecture by Johns Hopkins Professor Nathan Connolly and a conversation between Curator Michael Chagnon and University of Houston Professor Dina Al-Sowayel, Other programming will include workshops for young, middle and high school students by artist Nimako.
Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE is generously sponsored by the Houston Endowment, HEB, the Aga Khan Foundation, LEGO, the Houston Freedman’s Town Conservancy and the Board of Directors of the Houston Museum of African American Culture.”
On View: February 5, 2022 | 12–5 pm
Houston Museum of African American Culture
4807 Caroline St.
Houston, TX
(713) 353-1578
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