A Heritage Lottery Funded Project
A project to explore the Oral history behind the artefacts in the British Museum’s Sainsbury’s African Gallery.
HERITAGE AFRICANA
IROKO Heritage Africana Project was designed to facilitate access to, and sustain interest in African heritage and cultures and introduced participants to the rich oral traditions, visual arts, music and dance of the African continent.
The project enabled IROKO to conduct research on African folklores and languages – riddles, adages, proverbs, etc., and their manifestations in the visual art of Africa, particularly on the artefacts on display at the Sainsbury’s African Gallery at The British Museum.
Five Newham schools – Ellen Wilkinson Primary School, Essex Primary School, Star Primary School, St. James’ CE Junior School and Winsor Primary School took part in the project.
A storybook “Sho-Sho & The Villagers” and a Teaching Resource Pack was produced at the end of the project. The storybook was inspired by some of the artefacts at the museum and is available for purchase from IROKO.
To obtain a copy of Sho-Sho & The Villagers, please contact us using the contact form.
London African Story
London African Story enabled IROKO to take the outcome of its Heritage Africana project to wider audiences in the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Waltham Forest. The project conducted research on African folklores and languages – riddles, adages, proverbs, etc., and their manifestations in the visual art of Africa, particularly on the artefacts on display at The British Museum.
Apart from taking volunteers and some members of the public on a guided tour of the Sainsbury African Gallery at The British Museum, workshop activities and performances were held at Mayfield School & College, Redbridge, Mayville Primary School, Leytonstone and also at the Vestry House Museum, Walthamstow. Exhibitions and display were also held at the following libraries:
- Walthamstow Library, Walthamstow
- Hale End Library, Highams Park
- Hainault Library, Chigwell
- Goodmayes Library, Ilford
- Leytonstone Library, Leytonstone
