Following my visit to the Pitt Rivers I started researching Dogon artefacts in museums. This article by Dr. Kwame Opoku picks up on some of the things I noticed at the museum in his review of the exhibition 'Dogon' at the Musee du Quai Branly in France, especially the fact that tribal objects are commonly displayed under dim lighting.

 'Could it be that these exhibitions, usually organized by ethnologists or persons greatly influenced by anthropological writings want to reinforce the idea that Africa is a dark continent with mysterious ways of life and cultures? European visitors who visit these exhibitions could hardly avoid concluding that African culture and Africa represent darkness and obscurantism whilst Europe and European culture represent light and enlightenment. The moment the average visitor enters an African exhibition she is plunged into darkness; her senses are invaded and she is made to feel she is in an obscure world, at the mercy of unknown spirits and dangerous objects and creatures. Is that what the curators seek to achieve? Have these curators been following Hegel and the racist philosophers of the so-called European Enlightenment?'

The article also suggests that there are more Dogon artefacts in European museums than in Malian museums and questions how some of them got there. Due to poverty and corruption, Mali has struggled to regulate the exporting of Dogon artefacts to the rest of the world. Dr. Opoku suggets that some objects may have arrived at the Musee du Quai Branly via illegal means. The author also notes that for some Africans, visa restrictions mean that they may be unable to travel to visit the objects in the museums.

The articles I have read about Mali and the demand for Dogon artefacts from dealers, collectors, museums etc has really inspired me to illustrate a story about this in order to inform people about what is going on and how one country's culture is under major threat.