May to July 2024 / June to October 2025
Augustine Moukodi is a Cameroonian filmmaker and independent researcher in colonial and post-colonial history. MWANO – a collaborative project between Tina Moukodi, Marianne Ballé Moudoumbou, an independent researcher in pan-African women studies, the Media and Education Department of the Ethnologisches Museum, and partners in Cameroon – builds on an initial research fellowship conducted in 2024, and culminates in an exhibition at the Humboldt Forum.
Numerous photographs and sound recordings made during the German colonial period in Cameroon are archived at the Ethnologisches Museum. The photographs are not only important documents of the past – they are also carriers of trauma and emotions caused by the atrocities of the German colonial era, which have left indelible marks on the collective memory of Cameroonians. The exhibition highlights perspectives from Cameroon with the aim of recontextualising the photo archive and filling the gaps of colonial history with artistic reinterpretations and personal narratives that speak about empowerment, healing and resistance. Augustine Moukodi on this:
Our hope is to open a new perspective on the painful events of colonialism, while preserving its serious character, respectful of the pain of the people. Our intention is to reconstruct our memory.
Augustine Moukodi is president of the production companies Zili Jungle Studios and Racines Mboa, where she has been producing and directing historical and cultural film projects since 2012. Since 2022, Augustine Moukodi has been part of the “Global Cultural Assembly” (GCA), a joint project for worldwide cross-cultural cooperation between the Ethnologisches Museum, the Museum für Asiatische Kunst and the Humboldt Forum.