African Mask Sold For $4.6 Million In France, People Protest

There was chaos at an auction site in Southern France after it was disclosed that a local Gabonese community staged a protest against the auction of a 19th-century wooden carved mask that was sold for $4.6 million. Activists who disrupted the auction protest stated that whoever bought the mask was acquiring stolen property. According to information obtained, it was disclosed that the rare wooden “Ngil mask” is used in ceremonies by the fang ethnic people of Gabon.

The Ngil mask is believed to have played a huge influence on the work of famous European artists including Picasso and Modigliani. According to the protesters, they disclosed that they will go further to file a complaint against such an inhuman act by France, and they will do everything to ensure that they recover the stolen artifact which was ill-gotten by the colonial masters. Amid the protest, Jean Christophe Guseppi the auctioneer in charge of the sale of the mask stated that the object belonged to the secret society of the Ngil vigilantes who roamed the villages to flush out troublemakers, among whom were individuals suspected of witchcraft.

He, therefore, concluded by saying that the auctioning of the object was legal as he saw nothing wrong in it. I strongly condemn this act of France for auctioning the Gabonese Ngil Mask, despite claims from them in trying to retrieve their artifact. According to history, it is a known fact that during the colonial era, most European countries invaded the African region and plundered all their precious artifacts that were sacred, symbolic, and spiritual to the African people. Some other artifacts were seen as metaphorical, as they spoke to the worldview and aspirations of the African people.

A lot of them have admitted that these artifacts were illegally obtained from Africa, of which some countries like Germany and Britain have returned some stolen artifacts in their possession back to their roots in Africa. I see no reason why some other European countries should still hold on to these objects, knowing full well the history of how it was illegally acquired by their colonial masters. Europeans must understand that these artifacts are not just mere objects, but rather, these objects help shape African history. Without it, history wouldn’t be complete.

French President Emmanuel Macron had in the past commissioned a report that the artifacts plundered from sub-Saharan Africa during the colonial era should be returned through permanent restitution. I am surprised at the recent development that just happened in France, concerning their refusal to return the “Ngil mask” to the Gabonese people. These European countries must understand that Africa’s treasure rightly belongs to Africa as it is sacrosanct to the people and it helps to shape their history. Selling it for financial gain is gross wickedness as it makes no sense to do that.

Prolific writer Chimamanda Adichie in one of her speeches in Germany stated that “European countries must see the need to have the courage to say that these arts are not ours, it should be returned to where it rightly belongs”. Some European countries have however made condescending statements as regards the stolen artifacts stating that they won’t return the arts, as African countries won’t take good care of them. Since when did it become their business how Africans took care of their arts? This is a specious argument, rooted in racist attitudes that somehow indigenous African people can’t be trusted to curate their own cultural heritage. It is also a product of the corrosive impact of colonialism.

One thing they fail to know is that Africans hold these artifacts in very high esteem, so saying they won’t know how to take care of them, doesn’t hold water at all. It doesn’t matter whether they can take care of them or not, what matters is that it is theirs. Since most European countries claim to practice the rule of law, they should live up to the ideals with which they define themselves by returning these arts. It might interest you to know that a lot of African arts are still being kept in Western Museums claiming that they are doing so for posterity’s sake. According to the most commonly cited figures from a 2007 UNESCO forum, 90% to 95% of sub-Saharan cultural artifacts are housed outside Africa.