Jamaican born artist, Trevor Hall, has called on Zimbabwean artists to draw inspiration from the ongoing Black History Month and act as custodians of the country’s culture and history both orally and visually.
The month of February marks the commemoration of the history of Afro-Americans in Canada and America and it was set aside in 1926 when historian Carter G. Woodson realised that the stories of Africa and African Americans were not being recorded in the education curriculums of the time.
Hall aka Ras Jabu says, art is instrumental in telling and protecting history and as such, all Zimbabwean artists from across the board should be serious in how they tell the stories of today for the benefit of future generations.
“Black History Month is significant to Zimbabwean art because it’s all about knowing your past like what Marcus Garvey said that a people without knowledge and understanding of its past, culture and history is like a tree without roots. So basically an artists is a custodian of culture and traditions and the artist is the oral and the visual historian,” said Hall.
He urged Zimbabwean artists to learn from the Black History Month and stop limiting themselves.
“The best teachers are actually artists and an artist teaches naturally from the heart, so what I want to say to Zimbabwean artists as we celebrate black history month is that don’t limit yourselves. Know where you are coming from in order to be able to project a greater meaning of oneself and bring a greater community of diversity together,” he added.
He also advised artists to desist from practising morally illicit behaviour in order to leave a history mark that can be cherished by the generation of tomorrow.
“Many of these artists do not really care, especially musicians and they systematically even destroy themselves and in turn they become a bad example towards the youth or even those who are following them. I want to challenge them today to be aware of themselves and to be aware of their surroundings in order to be able to tell the truth,” he said.
Black History Month has seen strides being made in the documentation of the history of black people but Ras Jabu believes there is still room for more documentation in Zimbabwe from both pre and post-independence.
“Our history and our culture in Zimbabwe needs to be documented and accepted. We are consuming products from the west when we can produce them here. When you look on the streets, how much of the clothing is being produced and actually being branded here and really what history are we going to have for our children’s children if we are no longer ourselves?” he asked.
