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A spectacular life-size steel bus, created as a memorial to Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, will be officially welcomed to its new home in Tottenham as part of Civic Day celebrations on Saturday 25 June.

The event, to be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre from 12noon, will feature poetry and speeches from local campaigners as well as live music, dance and drumming, film screenings, a barbecue and stalls from local artists. It is being organised by the Centre in collaboration with Platform, a group of environmentalists, artists, human rights campaigners, educationalists and community activists, who commissioned the Bus as part of their campaigning on human rights and oil in Nigeria. The striking steel vehicle will be at the centre of the celebrations, with drummers performing from its roof and its inside used to screen short films. Musicians from all parts of the community will contribute to the day.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian government in 1995, together with 8 other activists who had campaigned against the environmental and social damage caused by Shell’s oil drilling activities in the Niger Delta. In 2005, on the Tenth anniversary of his execution, London-based acclaimed artist Sokari Douglas Camp CBE won the commission to create a spectacular steel Bus sculpture. Completed in 2006, the bus has toured the UK ever since, and will now be resident at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall Approach Road, where it will be the focus of a year of planned artistic and educational activities.

John Baraldi, Chief Executive of the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, said:

We are extremely happy that we will be the new home for Sokari Douglas Camp’s incredible sculpture – and that we can use Tottenham Civic Day to officially welcome the artwork to the Centre and the community. Bernie Grant worked tirelessly to defend the rights of all sections of our society, and was a passionate advocate for social justice, so the fit between artwork and space could not be better. We hope to see the bus become the focus for a sculpture park here.

Jane Trowell, Platform’s Education Coordinator, said:

The Bus is a people’s vehicle – it draws people in to thinking about social and environmental justice in a unique way. It has local, national and international significance, and we hope it will provoke debate and inspire the people of Tottenham. Bernie Grant, like Ken Saro-Wiwa, would have approved of it.

Maria Saro-Wiwa (widow of Ken Saro-Wiwa) will be a special guest  at the launch event, and a statement from artist Sokari Douglas Camp written for the occasion will be read out.Visitors will also be able to take a tour behind the scenes at the Arts Centre and even watch films screened inside the bus itself. The event is free to all, and the official launch event will start at 1pm.
ENDS
Notes for Editors
This artwork and event presents a spectacular photo opportunity. If you would like to discuss photography on the day or in advance, or for any other information, please contact Dan Lines.

Confirmed speakers on the day will include:
John Baraldi, Chief Executive, BGAC

Jane Trowell, Platform

Zena Edwards – Poet with strong Tottenham connections, who has performed at WOMAD, The London Jazz Festival, Poetry International at the Royal Festival Hall, Glastonbury and many others.

Ben Amunwa, campaigner on oil and human rights in Nigeria, Platform
Other speakers tbc

About the Bernie Grant Arts Centre
The Bernie Grant Arts Centre is named for Bernie Grant MP (1944-200), one of Britain’s first black MPs and a tireless campaigner for equality and cross-cultural understanding. Designed by award winning architect David Adjaye, and opened in 2007, the centre includes a a 274-seat auditorium, studio/rehearsal space, café/bar, multimedia workspaces and open spaces. The centre is committed to programming work that reflects and engages the full diversity of its community, and is home to award-winning dance company Tavaziva.

About Platform

Platform campaigns on issues of social and environmental justice, bringing together the skills of researchers, activists and artists. For the past 15 years the focus has been on oil and coal, climate change, and the financial systems that underpin it. Platform works in solidarity with affected communities abroad but looks at how to reduce London and the UK’s negative impacts on those communities. In 2004, the project Remember Saro-Wiwa was initiated, funded by Arts Council England and Roddick Foundation, to create a Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Press contacts:

Jane Trowell, Education Coordinator/Ben Amunwa, Nigeria oil and human rights campaigner (020 7403 3738)

SHAKE! reflects the distinctive approach of PLATFORM, which attracted me to them in the first place: challenging the misdeeds of the largest centres of power in the world – corporations and banks as vast as Shell, BP and RBS – using, in part, the resources of creativity and art. One example is standing outside the Stephen Lawrence Centre right now – the Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his fellow activists, executed for their role in the non-violent resistance to Shell’s abuse of the land and people of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta. A sculpture in the form of a Nigerian bus, it’s just one of the many creative interventions made by PLATFORM in pursuit of social and environmental justice.

So I was naturally excited about the opportunity to get involved with bringing these elements to the sorts of people – indeed, as mentioned, some of the very people – that I work with on a daily basis. And, of course, I was excited about doing it in the Stephen Lawrence Centre, another memorial, this one to the British teenager whose murder was subject to an investigation that led to the Metropolitan Police being condemned as ‘institutionally racist’. The SLC is certainly a living memorial, and I see it as an act of hopeful defiance in the face of hatred, injustice and cynicism.

The bulk of the work done at SHAKE! has been creative. Having been introduced to the stories of Ken Saro-Wiwa and Stephen Lawrence, and having been fortunate enough to meet in person Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, the participants have responded both personally and analytically, and used these responses to form the basis of what they have produced. There have been three groups – music, video and spoken word, which are beginning to work together. Poems have been spoken over African beats; a roving film-crew is interviewing hopeful DJs. We haven’t reached the end of the course yet, where things will all tie together, but I just spoke to one of the participants. He told me that he didn’t know what to expect, but he’s found an outlet to express himself where there are no holds barred. He has other outlets – sometimes he boxes – but he’s enjoyed a different kind of outlet, one that ‘feels gentle’. The discussions about ways people have challenged injustice led him to tell me that ‘knowing that there are ways of making a difference inspires you’.

I’ve also been touched. Seeing young people feel moved by injustice, and feel grasped by a commitment to act against it, is affecting. We are already talking amongst ourselves about how to continue our connection with the participants, to create an ongoing exploration of all that’s been raised here. I guess this is another way of saying – it’s been a good week so far! But there isn’t a lot more time for all this reflection – there’s work to be done…

C WORDS is an exhibition which tackles some of the most pressing issues of our time – this is climate change seen from the perspective of artists working within the global justice movement. It is about issues where global inequality, race and capitalism interlock.  The combined work of 60 artists, activists and campaigners results an exciting season of events at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol.

As part of C WORDS on 7th November at 6.30pm, remember saro-wiwa joins forces with coalition partners African Writers Abroad for a night of poetry, performance that is ecclectic, Trans-Atlantic, inspired and dedicated to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The next day remember saro-wiwa hosts a discussion with guest speakers on the future of the oil-rich Niger Delta. We hope to see some of you there.

Event programme:

Saturday 7th November

No Condition is Permanent: an event by African Writers Abroad and remember saro-wiwa.

6.30pm – 8.30pm, Arnolfini Bristol, Gallery 3, free admission.

Poetry and performance with Dorothea Smartt, Simon Murray, Zena Edwards, Ross Martin, Edson Burton and others. Hosted by PLATFORM’s remember saro-wiwa project.

Join three performance poets and young writers, on intimate journeys that take you from the frontlines of climate injustice to radical hopes for a sustainable future. The event marks the 14th anniversary since the writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by Nigerian government for his campaign against the impact of oil companies, in particular Shell, on the environment in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Sunday 8th November

What’s the future of the Niger Delta?

2pm – 5pm

Arnolfini Bristol, Gallery 3, free admission.

Join a panel discussion with presentations from artist Sokari Douglas-Camp CBE, human rights campaigner Alice Ukoku, Stakeholder Democracy Network and remember saro-wiwa.

PLATFORM’s C Words exhibition highlights our uncomfortable dependence on Nigerian oil, asking the how can we respond, as artists and activists to the ongoing environmental devastation and injustice, corporate power and conflict? Where is the struggle for justice today, and what lies ahead for the region?

Speakers:

-Alice Ukoku is a campaigner from Delta State, who witnessed to the remarkable protest of hundreds of women who barricaded Shell’s office at Ogunu in July and August 2002 and managed to shut-in 25% of Nigeria’s oil production for 10 days, before the military forced the protestors from the site.

-Sokari Douglas-Camp CBE is a British artist of Nigerian origin and the creator of the groundbreaking Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa. She has worked with large-scale steel sculpture for over two decades. Short-listed for the Fourth Plinth in 2003, she currently exhibits nationally and internationally, including at the British Museum.

-Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) works to empower those worst affected by the activities of extractive industries in Nigeria and to help them to get a better deal.

-PLATFORM brings together artists, campaigners and researchers for projects driven by the need for social change. For over a decade, PLATFORM has been highlighted the social and environmental impact of the oil industry in key areas, including Nigeria.