Lech Szporer

 Memorial for Africans Lost at Sea (The Gambia, 2024-2025)

MEMORIAL FOR AFRICANS LOST AT SEA

(Proposal for the people of The Gambia)

By Lech Sean Szporer

I. PROPOSAL OVERVIEW

This is a government-approved proposal to design, secure funding for, and to coordinate the construction of a public memorial on the Atlantic coast of The Gambia.

From the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade to modern day migration issues, we have seen the Atlantic Ocean swallow up countless brilliant, young, and eager African lives. The growing trend of young people leaving Africa today continues to hurt The Gambia, draining the country of its ambitious youth and thus its hope for a more positive future.

In order for young people to appreciate their home and to invest in their own country, The Gambia needs to provide opportunities for the next generation. But providing a future for Gambians involves more than better infrastructure, educational and employment opportunities, and a stronger health care system – Gambians also need to be inspired and invigorated to participate in the building of a better future. And this is where the importance of arts and culture comes into play.

A public memorial has the power to transform collective trauma into a site of communal healing and recovery, restoring the connection between survivors and their communities, between the people alive today and the ancestors they come from, all the while beautifying its surroundings with the visual and interactive social practice of engaging with history, meaning, and shared memory.

Article in The Standard: https://standard.gm/memorial-for-africans-lost-at-sea-to-be-constructed-in-gambia/

A. Memorial Description:

Memorial for Africans Lost at Sea will be a large staircase ascending from the sandy beach up into sky over the ocean water, depicting a ‘stairway to heaven’ or stairway to one’s dreams and aspirations.

The memorial will be interactive. People will be able to safely walk up and down the staircase. At the top of the staircase will be a viewing platform, a high point from which people will be able to look out over the ocean.

B. Televised Inauguration Ceremony:

This public memorial is being realized in collaboration with the Gambian government and the families of missing and/or deceased migrants. We are specifically working with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the National Center for Arts and Culture, and the Physical Planning Department.

Upon completion of the public memorial, we plan to host a televised inauguration ceremony with representatives of the government, family members of missing Gambians, and important public figures of Gambian culture. We are also seeking to involve well known Gambian musicians to perform during the event.

II. Positive Impacts of the Public Memorial:

1. Historical Impact: The public memorial honors and memorializes Gambian ancestors and the loss of life during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It is estimated that out of the more than 12.5 million Africans who were carried across the Atlantic on slave ships between 1519 and 1865, at least 1.8 million perished and/or were thrown overboard.

2. Contemporary Impact: The public memorial acknowledges and confronts the eerily similar issue of the loss of life to the Atlantic in relation to “backway migration” in contemporary Africa. At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023, making it the deadliest year on record, according to data collected by IOM’s Missing Migrants Project. In 2023, we also saw record numbers of people risking their lives in an attempt to take crowded fishing boats from the coasts of The Gambia and Senegal to the Canary Islands. This horrifying trend cannot be combated by authorities and navy officers alone. We have to address the mindset many young Africans have. Public art has the capability of speaking to Gambians on a deeper, emotional, and spiritual level.

3. Tourism and Economic Development: The public memorial acts as a tourist and business attraction and a beautiful place for local Gambians. This memorial will be able to stand alongside other Gambian tourist attractions and heritage sites such as Kunta Kinteh Island and the Never Again statue in Albreda, Fort Bullen, the Stone Circles of Senegambia, Arch 22, and the like.

4. Contemporary Migration Deterrence:The public memorial acts as a deterrence to dissuade young people who may be considering the dangerous ‘backway’. Recently, The Gambia has seen an uptick in people attempting to take fishing boats to the Canary Islands. This coastal memorial will remind people of the dangers of the open sea.

5. Cultural Inspiration: The public memorial, like the recent highway construction, shows development and growth, and this in turn inspires Gambians to live up to the changing times. Public art stimulates learning and thought on the interconnectedness of people’s lives within a society.

6. Trend-Setting of Higher Standards: Lastly, the memorial acts as a model which can be replicated and repeated in other countries along the West Coast of Africa. The Gambia can therefore set a trend of higher standards in terms of beautifying public space while simultaneously addressing contemporary cultural issues.

* This memorial will remember Gambian lives, respect Gambian lives, inspire Gambian lives, and potentially save Gambian lives.

III. PARTNERS:

1. Ministry of Tourism and Culture

   Minister: Hon. Abdoulie Jobe

   https://motc.gov.gm/

   
   

2. National Center for Arts and Culture

   Director General: Hassoum Ceesay

   https://ncac.gm/

   
   

3. Civil Engineer and Construction Company