Andrew from Sound Transit sent me this Guardian article, about a unique tribute to executed Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Chief among these “first martyrs” was Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Nigerian journalist and novelist who spearheaded a massive campaign against oil corporations and the Nigerian government, accusing both of waging an ecological war against the Ogoni people of the Niger Delta. …
Last year, to mark the 10th anniversary of Saro-Wiwa’s execution, Platform, together with Amnesty International, the Arts Council and Greenpeace, launched a competition, asking artists to come up with proposals for a Saro-Wiwa memorial. The winner was Nigerian-born sculptor Sokari Douglas Camp, whose “mobile memorial” takes the form of a giant bus …
The bus was chosen deliberately, as a complex symbol of many of the things Saro-Wiwa stood for–and against.
“I think transport is an important feature in environmental debate,” she says. “The poorer world is always trying to catch up with the west in transporting goods. I wanted a spectacle of some kind, one of those vehicles, stacked precariously with all the goods they can carry. It will be fantastic to see it in a London street.”
To see pictures of the bus memorial and hear commentary by the artist, check out this slideshow.