The Missing Link. Dicolonisation Education by Mrs Smiling Stone

"How might education contribute to purge from consciousness that there exist no under-beings but that the birth of a life is a value in itself. That every human has a right to a cradle." Pélagie Gbaguidi, 2017.

On 16 June 1976, some 20 000 Black pupils from the township of Soweto protested against the introduction of Afrikaans – the language of the White rulers – as the language of instruction. This violently suppressed uprising, as well as archive materials on Apartheid and visits to memorial sites like the Cradle of Humanity and Mandela House in Johannesburg and places like the Stadtmuseum in Kassel, inspired Pélagie Gbaguidi to create The Missing Link. Dicolonisation Education by Mrs Smiling Stone.

This large-scale installation, which was made for documenta 14 in Kassel and Athens, interweaves stories of the Soweto Uprising with other histories of oppression, from slavery in ancient Greece to the Code Noir, a French decree from 1685 that regulated slavery in the French colonies. By combining these strands, Gbaguidi wants to create a powerful consciousness of our shared and global colonial past: the 'missing link'. The premiere at documenta was followed by editions in other cities, including one in Antwerp that was purchased by Kanal.

Each edition consists of objects and archive materials from museums, connected to the local context. The installation is the result of local workshops Gbaguidi organises for students, in which they are asked to draw or write down their feelings about these materials. In doing so, they develop new narratives that go against the dogmas of slavery, discrimination and racial ideology. The Belgian version includes photographs from the Africa Museum in Tervuren, coupled with a colonial propaganda film that was shown at the Colonial University of Belgium in Antwerp (1920-1962).
In this work, Pélagie Gbaguidi examines the pivotal role education plays in rewriting historical narratives and in healing the wounds from the past. The 'i' instead of 'e' in 'di-colonisation' refers to the digital revolutions and their profound impact on education and society, which also calls for critical inquiry.