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This memorial project interests me because Ken Saro-Wiwa is an icon, and when he was killed, many people felt that Nigeria had lost its path and the Delta would be destroyed. I come from the Niger Delta in Nigeria and over the years the issue of our oil has played a part in my work. From my hometown we can see six oil flames that are like constant sunsets and the air has more soot than the busiest cities in the world; we only have ten cars in the town. One feels that the area is unhealthy, but the people go about their daily lives, the only indication that things are wrong is that we do not have many older people in our community.

There are occasions in Port Harcourt when medicine sales men perform in the market - A van arrives decorated with the logo of the medicine being sold, there are loud hailers and speakers attached to the vehicle and performers who are painted and dance enthusiastically to attract a crowd. Once a crowd is established a person from the team of performers explains how the medicine being advertised is a wonder drug- explaining that the drug is why the dancers dance like they do when just a few weeks ago they could hardly move. I would like to bring a Nigerian element to this memorial, I see Saro-Wiwa as a light for the people of the Delta.

In a memorial for Ken Saro-Wiwa, his humanity and his ideas should be the key. There is an element of theatre and humour in the medicine men but what they deliver is relief and hope. Ken and his companions bravery had an element of this tonic.

In exploring how to get to this tonic, I would like to make a sculpture that is like a vehicle, the yellow buses in Lagos, or similar to the Trucks that travel leaden with goods from farms to the cities or the campaign buses that some politicians use. I would like the structure to be decorated with Ken Saro-Wiwa’s text because writing was his craft. I believe that people would like to know about the protest against Shell and the Nigerian government. Saro-Wiwa’s words should not be lost and the problems in the Delta have not been resolved. If they were resolved in the future the history of Ken’s fight would be preserved on the sculpture. The words would have to be chosen very carefully, I would like these essential words stretching across the bulk carried by the vehicle. The main structure would be made out of stainless steel, a very different material from memorials in London, which are usually made of bronze.

I would have liked the general public to participate with the structure by adding things to it but the aim is to focus on Ken and his companions who died for this cause and their words should be read, so that there is a form of participation. Stainless steel would be a very clean look. I would like the structure to have the history of fire, soot and oil. In launching this memorial I would place black candles all over the structure. Candles on the structure would be very effective, adding the quality of the fuel, which is something we all use. This may give people the opportunity to add light to the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa. The residue would mark the launch and the life of the fire that created it.

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Sokari Douglas Camp

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Click on images below for larger pictures. Photos by Dave Lewis