From the beginning of the 15th century, European nations such as England, the Netherlands and Spain, began exploring the world and expanding their empires through the process of colonisation and cultural genocide. Later endeavours such as the African diaspora and slave trade were a result of this. Another major outcome of the Age of Discovery was the number of stolen artefacts that had accumulated from the many expeditions that took place. These now reside in multiple museum locations across the globe, the majority of these objects being held thousands of kilometres away from their original home. While there is much debate, there are several clear reasons why this process is unjust and extremely offensive to traditional cultures around the world.

The Benin expedition of 1897 was an attack on the kingdom of Benin, a city famous for its bronze and brass plaques, statues and other artefacts. Following the destruction of the city, over 2,000 artworks were taken by British forces to “pay” for the expedition, 40% of them being kept by the British Museum. In addition to these artefacts, the rest of them are scattered around the world. None of them are still found in Africa. Westerners have easy access to artefacts that are not native to their own country, but those of their nationality have no access to such an important part of their culture. These so-called expeditions initiated by colonial powers were more akin to raids, with soldiers using forced consents and trickery to take hold of the artefacts. Furthermore, due to the aggressive nature of these raids, there was a distinct lack of information regarding the origin, purpose and importance of each artefact. This means any information given out by the museums and private collectors who end up withholding said artefact, is likely to be highly inaccurate or could even encourage stereotypes, biases, and the exoticization of the existing culture.

In 2021, almost 2000 Indigenous Australian artefacts were returned from multiple overseas galleries and museums. While this was an incredible achievement, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies identified over 100,000 objects of Indigenous origins that reside in overseas collections. Craig Richie, the institute's chief executive, explained that the artefacts were originally collected for academic research, to debunk ideas surrounding people looking at Aboriginal communities like “they were looking at the childhood of humanity”. Important artefacts such as these are often taken without consent, and as Mr Ritchie said, “These are items that were made to be used, not to be put behind glass for curious Europeans and Americans to look at.” Although there could be justification for the research in which these objects appeared without any historical context, it is incredibly disrespectful to keep such important artefacts away from their traditional origins. 

 

A similar argument has been made against the return of the sub-Saharan artefacts that were previously mentioned; that artefacts are “safer” when in the possession of Western hands, rather than their traditional owners. However, there is absolutely no solid proof that backs this reasoning, and it is simply racist to assume that indigenous people cannot be trusted with their own cultural artefacts. Many may also argue that the possession of these artefacts are no different from museums and galleries displaying artwork from overseas countries, such as work of Vincent Van Gogh or Claude Monet. Again, this is not a reliable argument, as these paintings are bought by Western countries from Western countries; there is no power imbalance between the sellers and collectors, unlike historical artefacts that were definitely not bought, but stolen through raids of nations hundreds of years ago.

 

In summary, colonial power is still being exercised through the possession of these artefacts. The traditional owners deserve to have returned what was stolen from them so many years ago. It is a form of reconciliation if we can work towards educating and informing ourselves on the origins of so many stolen artefacts. 

 

 

Horton, M 2019, Returning looted artifacts will finally restore heritage to the brilliant cultures that made them, The Conversation, viewed 31 May 2022, https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/returning-looted-artifacts-restore-heritage/index.html

Lin, A., 2019. The Most Expensive Van Gogh Paintings Sold in the Auction Room | Widewalls. [online] Widewalls. Available at: <https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/most-expensive-van-gogh-paintings-auction> [Accessed 23 June 2022].

Morris, L., 2022. ‘This headdress is telling me it needs to go home’: Ancient artefacts returned to Australia. [online] Smh.com.au. Available at: <https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/this-headdress-is-telling-me-it-needs-to-go-home-ancient-artefacts-returned-to-australia-20210503-p57ob6.html> [Accessed 23 June 2022] 

Paul, G 2021, Why Artefacts Should Be Returned To Their Countries Of Origin: A Look Inside The Debate, Crime Reads, viewed 31 May 2022, https://crimereads.com/artifacts-returned-debate/