Egyptian authorities have revoked the archaeological permissions of a Dutch museum on what they consider an “Afrocentric” exhibit currently on view. Kemet: Egypt in hip-hop, jazz, soul and funk, which opened in mid-April at the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO) in Leiden, explores how black musicians from forced diasporas in the United States, Europe and the Caribbean have incorporated motifs and stories from the Egypt in their music and visuals. . In an email, the head of the Foreign Missions of Egyptian Antiquities allegedly accused the museum of “falsifying history” by promoting the appropriation of ancient Egyptian culture and aesthetics in its exhibition and canceled its excavation permit in the ruins of Saqqara.
Kemet was what the ancient Egyptians called their territory during the Old Kingdom and it is said to translate to “black land», a reference to the fertile soil of the Nile Delta. The exhibition was inspired by this word and how the richness of this ancient culture has been reinterpreted and celebrated by Miles Davis, Nas, Erykah Badu, Nina Simone and other household names in the American black music scene in over the decades. The exhibit includes iconic posters, album covers and songs by these and other artists who are clearly influenced by ancient Egyptian motifs and historical figures, such as depictions of Rihanna and Beyoncé in the role of Queen Nefertiti and jazz band Sun Ra Arkestra’s interpretation of Egyptian themes in their Afrofuturist sound. and imagery.
“For many black artists, the antiquity of Egypt and Nubia is a significant symbol of the antiquity of all of Africa and is part of their own identity,” reads a text translated from the exposure. “Embracing and reclaiming these cultures shifts the focus from Africa’s slave past to its inspirational past and provides a way to (re)tell stories about Africa’s past from this perspective.
Although this revocation is a blow for the RMO because it has been carrying out excavation projects with other research partners in the Saqqara necropolis since 1975, museum director Wim Weijland told the Dutch daily. NRC that we [the museum] we’re not going to make excuses and we won’t adjust the exposure.
“This exhibit was made with great care,” Weijland said. “The museum will formally oppose the decision. And we asked our partner, the Egyptian Museum of Turin, to take over our concession. Hopefully it will work, then the work can at least continue.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities responded to Hyperallergic request for comment. The RMO declined to comment further.
One of the exhibit’s curators, Daniel Soliman, also told the newspaper that no one from the Antiquities Service had visited the exhibit or contacted the museum about its contents. “All the fuss comes from images that have been taken out of context,” he said, quoting an alleged rise of Egyptian nationalism and anti-black racism and propaganda in the country.
The museum reported that social media posts promoting the exhibit were bombarded with negative and “sometimes racist” comments from Egyptian netizens once it was opened. RMO even turned off A declaration on the social media backlash explaining his decision to remove any racist and offensive comments and why it was important for the museum to consider a contemporary understanding and reinterpretation of ancient Egypt.
This is not the first time that Egyptians have bristled at the confusion of ancient Egypt with greater Africa and black culture from the diaspora. A few days before the opening of the Leiden Museum exhibition, the disgraced minister of antiquities and Egyptian nationalist Zahi Hawass blasted Jada Pinkett Smith’s Netflix docuseries Cleopatra, who launched a black-British lead to portray the femme fatale Pharaoh, for “attempting to sow confusion to spread false information that the origin of Egyptian civilization is black”. And at one point, a Change.org petition written by two diaspora Egyptians calling on Netflix to cancel the show’s release garnered more than 85,000 signatures before the platform shut it down.
