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by ilConte

Barbados Heritage District, honoring memory, land and spirit. Designed by world-renowned architect Sir David Adjaye. It will be built next to Newton Slave Burial Ground, the oldest and largest slave cemetery ever found in Barbados. The site will include a memorial, a museum, a global research center, and spaces for performances and reflection.It’s part of a national project called ROAD (Reclaiming Our Atlantic Destiny), which aims to reshape Barbados’identity and economy by making it a central place for learning about Atlantic slavery, from the Caribbean, not just from the West. Barbados actually holds the second largest collection of slave records after the UK. One key part of the project is to digitize these archives and give access to researchers, families, and future generations. But not everything has gone smoothly. Some activists, spiritual leaders, and museum workers protested the construction, saying it disrespected the sacred nature of the burial ground.Now, discussions are ongoing to create cultural and spiritual guidelines.There’s also talk of founding a spiritual university, in collaboration with Codrington College, to show how different faiths and traditions can live together. The Newton Burial Ground itself is powerful: about 1,000 enslaved people were buried there, between 1660 and 1820.They were laid to rest by their families and communities, often with rituals inspired by African traditions.It’s the only untouched slave cemetery ever excavated in the Caribbean.The artefacts and human remains found here tell us stories we couldn’t get from written documents alone. This project has the potential to transform how we understand slavery, heritage and identity. It also reminds us that healing history must include respect, spirit and the voices of the people.

Rivington Place - David Adjaye “Leo’s attraction was that he was a kind of perverse, original irritant. But against this we have ample evidence (through his drawings) of a simple human understanding and humour… His mind must have been beautiful.”

My favourite Harlem new-build — David Adjaye's Sugar Hill!⁠ It contains 124 affordable apartments, museum and education centre. It might look a bit harsh at the first glance, but it was developed in close cooperation with the local community and fits surprisingly well into its surrounding. Just across the road stand the infamous Polo Grounds Towers.⁠

2019 Hugh Ramapolo Masekela Memorial Pavilion / David Adjaye DITORTED COLUMNS #columns #bizarrecolumns #distortedcolumns #davidadjaye #architecture #archilovers #archiporn @adjayeassociates https://www.instagram.com/p/B9lcDKIoTCW/?igshid=hhrh296lj574

Accra, Ghana. Monday, March 9, 2020. Street hawker packs up after a long day of breathing polluted air, outwitting berserk motorbikes (okadas) and unruly drivers, standing on her feet for over 8 hours in the scorching sun, hawking cold drinks and sachet water so she can afford to feed her children. Meanwhile, the government is spending millions of dollars to build the most beautiful cathedral since Noah’s Ark. Isn’t this amazing?! Very soon, she can wear her beautiful secondhand clothes and go worship God with the rest of the saints in the new cathedral on Sundays. What a blessed nation we are! What amazing leaders we have! I hope she takes an offering along. “God loves a cheerful giver”. Photo and Words by Nana Kofi Acquah (www.nkacquah.com) @africashowboy (Copyright: 2020) www.nanakofiacquah.com. #thisisnotmyfaith #truereligionistotakecareofthevulnerable #shotoniphone #accra #ghana #hawker #streetvendor #sellingonthestreet #poverty #ruralurbanmigration #politics #cathedral #ghana #davidadjaye (at Mallam Junction Interchange) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9jPi3aFURG/?igshid=homm45c327ai

Reflection: David Adjaye, Dirty house, Chance Street; 2002 . Photograph; Shoreditch, London, February 2016 . #architecture #davidadjaye #dirtyhouse #london #artstudio #apartment #catalogue #visualreference #observations_and_reflections ⠀⠀ https://www.instagram.com/p/B11nJBDpxFj/?igshid=1q3mile2pbfpg