Mapping the Landscape of War/ Resistance and Post-Independence period through Public Art

Abstract

During conflict, our cities become the frontiers from which wars are fought. Dividing the urban landscape into territories of the warring factions, as seen in the Gaza Strip. Thus, this creates a landscape of war and resistance. Memorials and monuments have always acted as an extension of the built environment agenda set-up by the governing regimes/ warring factions, be it in the colonial or post-colonial period. Thereafter, post-conflict the victors remove monuments representing previous regimes and erect memorials to commemorate their victories. This concept is visible in Maputo’s Heroes Plaza/ Praça dos Heróis, built in 1975 following independence. It honours the fallen heroes of the Mozambican revolution. The central monument, a five-point-star formation, acts as both mausoleum and memorial as it enshrines the coffins of martyred sons and leaders of the liberation movement. As a sort of mise-en-scène that plays out, the same plaza design has been reproduced in smaller scale in other cities and districts of Mozambique i.e. Pemba. This session will analyse what role architecture and public art played during wartime i.e. landscape of resistance and the post-independence era from 1974 onwards in Lusophone Africa or other relevant post-colonial territories worldwide. In addition, as part of the decolonialisation exercise this session will additionally discuss/ debate the polemics around the removal of statuary and memorials in the colonial, post-colonial and post-independence periods.