Artist Sokari Douglas Camp’s steel sculptures, which commemorate the abolition of slavery, will be at St George’s Hall from 4 September as part of a year long tour.
This is a bid to generate attention to erect a permanent sculpture in London. The sculpture was inspired by a quotation from the liberated exslave William Prescott in 1937: ‘They will remember that we were sold but they won’t remember that we were strong; they will remember that we were bought but not that we were brave.’
Douglas Camps sculptures are strong and tall striding forward aware of their standing in the saga of slavery. The work invites the viewers to salute the survivors who have contributed to the lives we all lead today.
Sokari Douglas Camp was born in Buguma, Rivers State, Nigeria and was sent to boarding school in Britain as a child. She studied fine art at Central School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art and has had more than 40 solo shows worldwide, which include ‘Echoes of the Kalabari’ National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute1988-89 ‘Spirits in Steel – The Art of the Kalabari Masquerade’ at the American Museum of Natural History. Her public artworks include Battle Bus: Living Memorial for Ken SaroâWiwa (2006), a full-scale replica of a Nigerian steel bus, which stands as a monument to the late Niger Delta activist and writer.
In 2003 Sokari was shortlisted for the Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth. Her work is in permanent collections at The Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C., Setagaya Museum, Tokyo and the British Museum, London.Last year Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, selected Otobo (hippopotamus) masquerade figure (2005) as the number one artifact from the British Museum’s permanent collection to represent London – A World City in 20 Objects. In 2005 she became an Honorary Fellow of University of the Arts London and in the same year was awarded a CBE in recognition of her services to art.
Caine Prize Judge for African Writing. 2013 Participating in Exhibition Artzuid Amsterdam,Commissions in progress ‘Fly Boat’ The Bahamas. ‘Palm Tree and Fencing’ Hyde Housing London ‘Heads’ Standard Chartered Bank, Nigeria. Galleries: Stefan Stux Gallery, NYC. Artco ,Germany.
