A statue of an African revolutionary standing over an English missionary is to go on display in London, only to be followed up by a “trans” monument styled after an Aztec skull rack.
‘Antelope’, a work of two statues by Malawi-born artist Samson Kambalu, is to go on display in London on September.
Scheduled to be enshrined on the so-called “fourth plinth” in Trafalgar Square, the piece will be followed by ‘850 Improntas’, a display involving the imprints of 850 “transgender” individuals that was styled after the mesoamerican skull rack.
According to a report by The Guardian, ‘Antelope’ depicts two men: the African revolutionary and Baptist John Chilembwe and English preacher John Chorley, with the statue of the former as a way of reportedly “elevating his story” and “highlighting the distortions in conventional narratives of the British empire”.
Credited by the Dictionary of African Christian Biography as being one of the progenitors of Malawi nationalism, Chilembwe came to blows with British colonialists in Malawi due to the imposition of conscription, a conflict which eventually resulted in the Baptist leader organising an attack on a British estate, during which one colonist was decapitated.
The head of the dead man was subsequently displayed by the African rebels within Chilembwe’s church before the building was destroyed by British forces, and its pastor shot dead.
Speaking on the decision for London to display the piece, the self-described cosmopolitan artist said that he thought it was going to be an uphill battle for the statue depicting the pan-African nationalist to be picked, but comments from London officials seem to indicate significant enthusiasm about the piece.
In particular, the city’s deputy mayor for culture and the creative industries, Justine Simons, praised the fact that Chilembwe is depicted as wearing a hat in the work, a jab at colonial rules forbidding Africans from wearing hats in the presence of whites at the time.
Paganistic Trans Sex Worker Artwork to be Displayed in London’s Trafalgar Square https://t.co/CuK1B46dSq
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) July 5, 2021
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