Two weeks ago, my girlfriend and I visited the Denver museum of arts. I was there because it was part my class project and my girlfriend was there because I was there. The building was magnificent. The surroundings were something to behold. From the view of Downtown Denver to the sculptures of two large bulls outside the museum building.
The interior of the building was a bit disappointing because many of the arts inside seemed generic. My expectations were higher than what I saw but I came alive when I saw the section for African arts. There were tribal masks from Nigeria: Yeruba, and Igbo tribal masks and sculptures. The Igbo masks and sculptures were familiar to me because I am from Igbo nation of south eastern Nigeria so I started telling my girlfriend about them. As I was talking to my girlfriend about the arts some of the visitors around paid attention to me. Almost everyone in that section of the museum noticed that all the African arts were labeled "Unknown artist". One of the visitors walked up to me and asked me why All the arts were labeled "unknown artist". I told him that most of the arts we saw were either stolen of purchased from black market operatives that they were all supposed to be found in shrines that housed the various deities that they represented not in museums.
African masks and sculptures were not designed to be in museums. There are some that were not even supposed to be seen by women or children. Some of them were supposed to be seen only at night. Europeans and Americans stormed Africa with money and encouraged people to steal these artifacts and sell it to them. These artifacts represented African cultures and even religions. As if slavery and colonialism are not enough, Europeans and Americans are looting African shrines of its priceless artifacts thereby contributing to the collapse of Africa's religions and cultures. These stolen arts should be repatriated to there various homes and restored to the various shrines were they belong.