www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk Over the years the BBC’s Ground Force programme has led millions of fans down more than 130 garden paths, creating backyard paradises in just days and teaching viewers along the way about different ‘plant practices’ from around the world.
The Africa Garden in the courtyard outside the British Museum is the team’s final creation together. The garden includes flora from three African climate zones - desert, tropical and temperate - informed by Ground Force’s work in Ethiopia, Morocco and their garden for Nelson Mandela in South Africa. It also features contemporary sculptures by African artists - from Mozambique to Ghana - including work specially commissioned by Ground Force.
As well as plants and shrubs the garden has a number of sculptures and works of art including the work of Rachid Koraïchi, rooted in calligraphy which uses diverse media, including ceramics, textiles and metalwork. Seven Doors of Heaven is inspired by the Qur’anic ‘doors of heaven and hell’. Like Koraïchi’s Path of Roses(displayed in the African Galleries), the work also acknowledges the Sufi mystic and poet Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, who journeyed through North Africa before founding the Dervish order in Turkey in the 13th century. Koraichi himself was born into a Sufi family in Algeria. Much of his work explores the complex contribution of Africa to Islamic culture and philosophy.
Africa's giant baobab tree could not be transported to the museum's garden because of its size but it is represented by a fabulous bark sculpture created Daniel and Petra Carstens from South Africa. With age, Africa's baobab trees develop to a spectacular 33 feet in diameter and are able to hold pockets of water which will see the tree through the dry seasons. Because of this, the Boabab can live as long as 5000 years and its fruit and seeds are a steady source of fuel, medicine and drink.
The imagery of Kalabari culture from Douglas Camp’s native Nigeria is central to her work. Returning from London to the Niger Delta, Douglas Camp has observed the changes which political pressures and industrialization, in particular the discovery of oil, have brought to people’s lives. The effect on women is illustrated in her female figures the water sculpture.
The gazelle, snake, bird and crocodile sculptures in the garden are made from weapons decommissioned through the Transforming Arms into Tools (TAE) project, supported by Christian Aid. People hand in guns in exchange for sewing machines, bicycles, even tractors, and the artists make sculptures out of them. The works carry messages of transformation and hope for the future of Mozambique.
Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui is widely recognised as one of Africa’s foremost contemporary artists. Taking the broad spectrum of indigenous African cultures as his extended canvas, El Anatsui’s central themes concern both the erosion of inherited traditions by powerful external forces and the nature of their continued transmission. This complex relationship is central to Monument, El Anatsui’s tree trunk sculptures for the African garden.
The garden will remain in the museum's forecourt until September. It is part of Africa 05 - a series of major cultural events taking place in London that celebrates contemporary and past cultures from across the continent and the Diaspora. Key partners for Africa 05 are the Arts Council England, the British Museum and the South Bank Centre in association with the BBC.
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