#restitution

It may not be aesthetic, but it’s a really romantic photo for me. I’m exactly where I wanted to be two years ago — in the place I dreamed of, in the position I hoped for. Alhamdulillah ❣️

kadestacey headers

The audacity

To display sacred objects ritual masks, ancestral symbols, vessels of meaning as mere “art.” To take what was once living, breathing culture and lock it behind glass, stripped of its voice, its people, its purpose.

These masks were never meant to be static. They danced, they healed, they connected worlds. And yet, here they are coldly lit, catalogued, consumed. The legacy of the Dakar-Djibouti mission and so many others like it, theft disguised as discovery, violence wrapped in curiosity.

It’s infuriating to see pieces of our spiritual lives treated as trophies of empire, while their true homes still ache with absence. These objects don’t belong in museum basements, they belong in ceremonies, in communities, in continuity.

Dahomey (2024) - Mati Diop

the edge of darkness (stacey rhodes) headers. please, like or reblog if you save or use. 🖤