Although the museum has remained closed since November, the sculpture is set to go on display when Aga Khan reopens later this year.
Museum curator Michael Chagnon said that Nimako being a Toronto-based artist was absolutely critical to their decision to acquire the piece. Since our opening in 2014, the Museum has been proud to serve as a cultural hub for our immediate neighbourhood and the GTA, Chagnon explained to blogTO. An important part of that work has been to collaborate with local artists and to highlight the global significance of their practices. Ekow s sculptures, and particularly Kumbi Saleh, speak in a fundamental way to the question of identity and history, to the need for expanding dialogue across perceived cultural divisions, to the importance of listening intently one another. That sort of vision in turn helps us tell stories of global relevance.
Kumbi Saleh 3020CE : Lego sculpture reimagines the medieval Mauritanian city
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Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE : Lego sculpture reimagines the medieval Mauritanian city
thenationalnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenationalnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ekow Nimako, Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE (2019) Connie Tsang
The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto has acquired a colossal sculpture made from 100,000 pieces of Lego by the Ghanian-Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, who is known for his Afrofuturist reimaginings of Black histories built from Lego bricks.
The 30 sq-ft sculpture
Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE (2019) conceptually envisions the ancient trading town in Mauritania one thousand years in the future, as a vast and complex metropolis once again. Kumbi Saleh was the centre of the trans-Saharan trade route at the height of the Ghana Empire, boosting cultural diffusion between Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
The work was the centrepiece of Nimako’s 2019 solo exhibition