In the second half of 2024 the digital producer, oral historian and exhibition curator Rolf Killius has created the project 'Cultural Interactions between People and Cultures of East Africa and London', which has been generously funded by the Arts Council of England (ACE) within their Developing Your Creative Practice programme.
For five weeks Rolf visited the Kenyan coast (mainly Malindi, Mombasa and Lamu), the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the Tanzanian coastal town of Tanga, and the places Iganga, Jinja, Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda. In these towns and surrounding villages Rolf met numerous artists, instrument makers, academics, historians and museum curators and viewed museums and community centres.
For at least since the first century AD the people of East Africa have exchanged goods and cultural traits with communities from the Persian/Arabic Gulf and the Indian west coast. Therefore it seems natural to extend Rolf's contacts and knowledge with coastal towns and centres of Kenya and Tanzania (Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa and Tanga), cultural centres in Kenya and Uganda (Nairobi, Kampala, Iganga, Jinja and Entebbe) and related communities in the UK (especially in London). A special focus of his work is how selected museums in East Africa represent local intangible cultures and how they deal with the colonial heritage.
Rolf has included Uganda in his project, as all three East African countries have a common past (pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial) and their culture and heritage is closely connected through communities, languages, economic and political links. Between these three communities exist numerous cultural links: such as food, crafts, clothing and habitation pattern/architecture, religions, festivals, music and dance. In addition there has been a strong relationship to other cultures along the Indian Ocean (especially to Arab, Persian and Indian traditions) and all three countries got connected through railway lines established in the colonial period.
On the journey Rolf developed the idea of an audio-visual exhibition. The following museums/organisations expressed strong interest in collaborating and possibly stage such an exhibition: Kenya National Museum (Nairobi), Uganda National Museum (Kampala), Fort Jesus Museum (Mombasa), Malindi Museum, Lamu Museum, Railway Museum (Jinja), Hub Nairobi and Hub Mombasa (youth community organisations), Kigulu Heritage Museum (community museum in Iganga), Uganda Community Museums Association - UCOMA (Iganga), Jinja Community Museum/Centre, National Gallery Uganda Nomma (Kampala), Mengo Palace (Kampala), St Paul's Cathedral (Kampala), Entebbe Wildlife Conservation Centre, and Entebbe Botanical Garden.
