Memory for the Slaves

Detail from slave sculpture

Flickr pic originally uploaded by patripics

Location: In front of the Anglican Church, Stone Town, Zanzibar;

Sculpture by Clara Sörnäs, concrete, 1998

Quoted from an article by Cathleen Falsani for huffingtonpost.com:
In another corner of the cathedral courtyard stands what is, in some ways, an incongruous monument to all that has happened within its walls — a thoroughly modern sculpture by the Scandinavian artist Clara Sornas.

It shows five slave figures, slightly larger than life, chained together in a pit. They are men and women, young and old, with features that show the variety of tribal and ethnic backgrounds that is Africa. Their expressions are neither of torment, nor resignation. They look numb, worn down, and yet somehow defiant.

Perhaps that is because they are only half in the pit. Their heads and shoulders are in the open air, faces exposed to the relentless equatorial sun…

Special thanks: All photos of this sculpture is from patripics for flickr.