Elsie Owusu + Chisara Agor

In 1996, as a young architect, I led a student design competition for the “Gallery for Returning Treasures (GRT)”. This ideas competition was co-sponsored by the Africa Reparations Movement (ARM) led by Bernie Grant MP and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Nearly 25 years later, the concept is reborn as a new gallery in Ghana, within the Kumasi City Hall Complex. In the “punitive campaign” of 1873-4, Sir Garnet Wolseley’s army raided Kumasi, ancient capital of the Ashanti kingdom in the then Gold Coast in West Africa. The British troops destroyed the city and looted large quantities of royal and sacred regalia. The present king HRH Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II has demanded the return of these treasures. Many bought at auction by British cultural institutions, including the V&A, are now the subject of the global movement for restitution

This movement has gained new significance with the resurgence of Black Lives Matter movement and are the subject of the “Return of Icons” report, published by Afford UK and the Sarr-Savoye report commissioned by President Macron of France. With the rise of BLM comes renewed interest in the history of the British Empire, slavery and colonialism, together with the reappraisal of the role of art and culture, in our human civilisations. “Rhodes Must Fall” reflects a new awareness of the importance of art in the public domain.

The GRT competition brief stated that the building was “to be a staging post between the legacy of the past: the slave trade and colonialism; migration and under-development and the hope for the future, when the people of the African diaspora move beyond tutelage towards new pride and dignity”

Intended to be more than a gallery and museum- the GRT and its artefacts will be more than a conventional collection. The gallery is about display, data, information and academic exchange. Display is not only of the artefacts but, importantly, of the symbolism of their history, the British Empire dimension of the vast international trade in people and objects- as well as the increasing consciousness of the need for restitution, reconciliation and reparations.

In 1995, Liverpool dock was the site for the GRT complex. This location referred to the city’s history, as the hub of the slave trade, a distillation and condenser of its tragic essence. The building would hover, if only metaphorically, on the built edge between land and sea. The symbolic significance of this transition resonated with transitions from the horror of the past and pointed to the optimistic opportunities of the new millennium.

The architecture of the building was to reflect an aspiration towards a lightness of being, whilst pursuing the seriousness of visionary purpose. This was echoed in the choice of site at the edge of the River Mersey, at the end of the historic “Middle Passage”. Liverpool is a city whose former wealth was built on the slave trade. Its future well-being must, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, depend on a collaboration between the “....sons (and daughters) of former slaves and those of former slave owners...”

Reborn in Kumasi as part of the Kumasi City Hall Complex, the new GRT deals simultaneously with questions which touch on notions of dis-settlement and re-settlement. The artefacts, taken from their original use-in-culture, are currently viewed in conditions of alienation as the bounty and treasure of art- the rich pickings of colonialism. Under the Return of Icons programme, many treasures will be returned to original homes- places and locations which may have undergone radical social and political change.

The new, visionary brief of this building encompasses these complex issues and proposed a simple, beautiful temporary home for the study and display of historical artefacts. Located in Kumasi, which was pivotal to the slave trade, colonialism and the struggle against the British Empire, the GRT and its allied educational and research institute is to be a place where objects speak to one another and to their multiple audiences- locally, nationally and internationally. It will also create an environment where, above all, people of all races and cultures may recognise and reflect upon the history of kidnap and plunder, whilst appreciating the triumph of human endeavour and resilience - as well as the beauty and power of the artefacts

In summary, the architecture of GRT is to make a powerful statement of resilience, reconciliation, hope and reparations. In addressing the brutality of the past, the spaces will offer a sense of confidence and the promise of wellbeing in anticipation of the return of icons to the continent of Africa. This is the central purpose of the building.

In 2020, the brief and design are re-born and re-envisioned as the new GRT,located within the Kumasi City Hall Complex. There are many dimensions to which this new brief relates:

firstly, to research in field of Black History in Africa ;
secondly, to establish a gathering place for commemoration if loss, celebration of resilience and community gathering;
thirdly, to study, data collection cataloguing and preparation for the curation and care of the objects and artefacts.

Most importantly GRT- and the future Institute will act as a centre of excellence on the African Continent- a catalyst for lobbying for and, if necessary, raising funds for the purchase of treasures and artefacts in order that they may be returned to their countries of origin.