My father is from Ghana and I grew up in Germany and it was always interesting to visit, for
me to visit Ghana and to travel. And one of these travels I was interested in colonial
history, like in the architecture and connection to the surroundings. And the architecture
most present there is the castles, of course, and everybody knows that the Dutch were there
and the English people were there, British and Portuguese. So I traveled and visited
some of the castles and then there was one that I found and the name was Groß Friedrichsburg.
So I was wondering where this name comes from, you know. I figured out like, okay, it could
be German actually, like not Dutch but Deutsch and then German. So, but it's from the 17th
century. So I was wondering how it came there. So I made a research and I found out that
it's actually from the 17th century and a Prussian elector built it there, which not
so many people know. I mean, there are some historians and like people that travel there
who know about this history, but in general, it's actually a blind spot in the German history
lesson, so to speak. So the Prussian elector is called Friedrich Wilhelm. He studied in
Netherlands actually, like the kings had very good connection and he had his education in
the Netherlands and the Netherlands were by that time a big force, a big sea force overseas
as well. And it was also like he wanted to trade with a direct trade with the African
continent. So I not only always have to go through the Netherlands or through Portuguese.
So actually in a secret mission, he sent two boats to explore where they could make contracts
with the African leaders there. And then they found this place at Cap Trespontas, very close
where they actually could find people to make trade with. So the, and the castle was built
then to be there and like all the goods were collected there and every few weeks when a
ship passed by, they could pick up these goods. By that time, sure, also like it started with
the slave trade and like there was gold, ivory and of course also slaves loaded on the ship
and then brought to the Caribbean. Like it was a triangle and then brought to the Caribbean
and then they went back to Germany or to Prussia by that time. Yeah. The state didn't have
money because there was a 30 year war right before. And so what you do if you don't have
money enough, you, I mean, first of all, they went to somewhere where they could get, I mean,
make a big business. And like in that time, the African continent, there was big business
to make. And then also to buy the ships and to finance this enterprise, they had the Brandenburg
Africanus company, it's called. And it was actually the first stock company on German
ground. By that time, it was not Germany, it was Prussia by it, but it was on German
ground and nowadays it's Germany. So actually the first stock that was made in Germany was
for this enterprise to go down, send the ships and start this triangle trade. So I thought
like it's an interesting reference as well to my project, which is called Adler Afrika,
the Eagle Africa and I created the Eagle Africa share. It's called then in German Adler Afrika
Aktie. And with this, with this project, the share, you can actually participate by donating,
you will co-finance the project. So there's, I have a public, I mean, I have public sponsor
like the Good Institute, there will be an exhibition, it's already fixed in November
in Accra and then I also have private sponsors like this. So they finance through the shares
and participate the project as well. So the people will be named and they will get a share
afterwards from what I get out of the project. And plus it's sure an interesting project,
not only historical-wise and from the contact, it's an art piece. I mean, it's a printed
edition that you can actually buy, but also on the side of it examines the art as an investment.
My vision is like to bring this blind spot in the German history to light. And sure,
I mean, like in the case of like the money flow or like let's say also intention or attention,
it's interesting for me as an artist, like the more attention the more the project gets,
the more I can do. And the more I can do, the more successful it will be. And the more
successful it will be, it will be a whole exhibition like there will be photos, videos,
presentations exhibited there, and they will be brought back. And sure, art is also to
make, I mean, you know, it's not the main point, but yeah, you can, there will be a
profit out of it when I sell the artwork. So by actually buying the share, you put attention
to my project, like the less shares there are left, the higher the price rises of the
shares, and the more I can do with the project. You know, like so it's a win, it can be a
win-win situation. And that's my, I mean, that's my vision, what I want to do. But on
top of that, you are just participating as well, like this process of rewriting the history
in a certain way, because most of that history is just lost. And what is important for me
as an artist is bringing this history to the present as well. History is always also a story
like, you know, you take the facts that you find and build a story with it, like you,
and there are some facts left. And so it's like a collage, like you can, you can build,
you can play with it, and you can tell stories with it. And this is interesting also to use
imagination, sure, but it's always used like a certain perspective, imagination, or a certain
attitude is often used a certain approach to the history. So what I use is actually the
in-between and also the things that you, that you cannot tell through facts. I think art
has a possibility like to explore or to approach from, from also another angle, you know, like
the history and also telling history in other ways, or asking questions to history. I mean,
it's, it's most of the things are forgotten, sure, and there's not many facts that, that
are left, but there are more facts and there's more to tell than there's told. And often
it's told only from a very, yeah, very narrow-minded perspective. So, yeah, so this is interesting,
I think. And also like the whole, like the, how Germany is involved or was involved in,
in, in the colonial past is also mostly forgotten. And there is some responsibility or some involvement
that we, now I say we as Germans have, you know, to, to participate and we participate
in the, in the world history and did also before.
