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Wednesday, 8 June 2005 - PRESS RELEASE

Key figures from the arts, broadcasting, politics and business ethics[1] are forming a unique Judging Panel, who, together with Ken Wiwa, will select a winning idea for London’s Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues were executed by the Nigerian Government on 10th November 1995 following their campaign against the devastating environmental impacts of oil companies – including Shell – in the Niger Delta. Ten years on, environment and human rights groups have come together with writers, artists and the Saro-Wiwa family to launch Remember Saro-Wiwa in memory of his life and work[2].

On 22 March 05, Remember Saro-Wiwa launched an international competition to find an inspirational proposal for a Living Memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Living Memorial will be Britain’s first deliberately mobile memorial touring several London locations for 2 years before being permanently sited. The project is backed by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.

The competition has been advertised internationally and there are still 3 more weeks before the 30 June deadline. The brief can be downloaded from the project website: www.remembersarowiwa.com A shortlist of five proposals will be exhibited in the run-up to 10th November 2005.

David A. Bailey, the project curator, said, "this high profile selection panel mirrors the diverse and wide range of issues encompassed by this project; human rights, race, ecology corporate social responsibility and the political impact of the arts. Their participation in the project is an endorsement of the role of the arts in addressing these urgent issues. I’m looking forward to working with this panel and working towards selecting a groundbreaking piece of public art for London."

As the world turns its attention to Africa with Tony Blair’s Africa Commission, the upcoming G8 meeting in Scotland and the UK’s Africa05 celebration, this project is urging Londoners to remember one of Africa’s great icons and to re-focus its attention on the ongoing crisis in the Niger Delta.

The Living Memorial will focus attention on the ongoing reality of the struggle for social and environmental justice in lands upon which Britain depends for the natural resources that fuel its economy. It will not be a monument that only remembers the past but one that helps to shape the future.

Escalating violence in the Niger Delta, related to the extreme poverty of the area in the face of billions of dollars of oil revenues and the pollution of land and air that has been ongoing for nearly half a century, is turning the Niger Delta into a living hell for millions.

Notes:
[1] Augustus Casely-Hayford is Director of Africa05. Michaela Crimmin is head of Arts at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA).
Alfredo Jaar is a public artist and architect.
Lee Jasper is the Mayor of London’s Advisor on Equalities and Policing.
Dame Anita Roddick is founder of the Body Shop, philanthropist and activist.
Yinka Shonibare is an artist.
Jon Snow presents Channel 4 News.
Ken Wiwa is Ken Saro-Wiwa’s son and is a writer and campaigner.
Baroness Lola Young is a Professor of Cultural Studies, was given a life peerage in 2004 and sits on the arts advisory committee of the British Council. Baroness Young will chair the Living Memorial Selection Panel.

[2] Remember Saro-Wiwa is a coalition of organisations and individuals initiated and co-ordinated by PLATFORM, including: African Writers Abroad, Amnesty International, Christian Aid, Diversity Art Forum, English PEN, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, International PEN, Index on Censorship, Mayor of London, Minorities of Europe, South Bank Centre and SpinWatch. Remember Saro-Wiwa is a partner of Africa05.

David A. Bailey is available for interview by arrangement.

For more information see www.remembersarowiwa.com

Contact numbers:
Main Number: 0207 357 0055

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