Thalia Dougourou is an artist from London, UK. Her practice is based on dismantling Eurocentric perspectives on African history through word and image . The reinforced idea that African history begins at the point of slavery is an extremely damaging narrative as it suggests that black existences is only worth being recorded at the times of European intervention.
Before attending the RCA, Thalia studied BA Illustration at Cardiff Metropolitan university.
Growing up as a black woman in the UK and experiencing the Eurocentric curriculum for myself, specifically at secondary school level, it soon became clear to me that when black history is taught there are only a few topics that are heavily focused on. These topics are centered around pain, dehumanisation and suffering. Although these parts of black history (such as slavery) are incredibly important and should be taught , I feel as though we should acknowledge that African history expands beyond colonialism. Africa has a rich history and has had a presence in Europe centuries before the slave trade but this narrative is not highlighted as much as our histories of pain and struggle.
The way I had been introduced to African history at school, caused unconscious bias within myself. I felt that because the history of Africa was no where near as vast as that of my white classmates, therefore making me feel inferior. I also made me wonder why the curriculum focused on these specific narratives. Was they trying to make us believe that Europe was a the center of life itself and that it ignited the beginning of African history? Were they hiding something?
While I was completing my bachelors in Cardiff, I was the only black student in my year group. Feelings of being different and inferior began to resurface and I found myself as lost as my history was. I This became the catalyst that would fuel my work.
I am currently exploring the depiction of black people in Medieval Europe. Through cross temporal research I became interested in the Middle Ages (late 5th century to the late 15th century) because it is chronologically placed before the renaissance, which was a time a time of significant social and political change. From my research, I discovered that there were depictions of African people as royalty, nobility, celestial beings and so much more. However, the arrival of the renaissance changed that and the language used to describe black people became extremely derogatory and instilled the idea of black people being lesser than. Even the use of the term 'black' suggested that the souls of African people were so evil that the our dark complexion was a physical manifestation of our dark souls.
St Maurice was a Christian Egyptian military general who headed the Theban Legion of Rome. He was martyred for refusing a direct order from Emperor Maximian to kill Christian Soldiers as a sacrifice to the Greek Gods. St Maurice it the patron saint of the Swiss guard and Coburg, Germany. However, in 1934 the Nazi party forbade his image from being displayed as the idea of a black saint went against their ideologies. This led to his image becoming whitewashed but in 1945 his true image was restored.
I found this story interesting and I want to write something that gave St Maurice a voice. I wrote ' I Have Seen What They Have Done' from his perspective, giving him a voice that critiques what was done to his image long after his death. Saidya Haartman's use of critical fabulation inspired me in the process of writing a short story that is essentially about the soul of a man that sees everything that has been done to his memory.
Exploring different materials allows me to think about different forms of storytelling. The heat transferable ink drawings allowed to explore fabric as a form of immersion through texture. My work is normally monochromatic however I wanted to experiment with colour and the explore the colour changes with each heat transfer of the same image.
