THE KEN SARO-WIWA ROOMS.

The life and death of writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa is the inspiration for the Mangrove Arts Foundation. Indeed, all Mangrove Arts Foundation projects are a product of the love for the region that Ken passed on to all his children. As the father of our founder Zina, his influence has been immense and she has seen it as her duty to help steer the legacy away from solely politicised ideas about environmentalism and to direct the immense energy left by his untimely departure in ways that reflect his interests and that truly honour and support the region. Ken was an urbane international man who loved his country deeply. He was incredibly well travelled and wrote many books, poems and TV shows. As an environmentalist his legacy is deep as it is not simply about oil pollution but about much more.

The Ken Saro-Wiwa Rooms will live in the current Boys’ Quarters Project Space at 24 Aggrey Road in Port Harcourt. This building was owned by Saro-Wiwa and his offices were there. It is a site that draws immense crowds every 11th November which is the date of his death. It is a shrine to Ken. His office is currently a mini museum site that is preserved how he left it, but the window he would have looked out onto has been boarded over and photos, films and video installations are projected there instead. This room is called the Windowall Gallery and was created by Zina. The other two rooms of the gallery we want to turn into a project that commemorate Ken in an exciting way. One of the galleries will be an exhibit where episodes of his show Basi & Company can be viewed in a re-created living room set. Much like Basi’s own living room. Creating an immersive meta experience. It is even more poignant that the programme will be shown on the site where it was written by Ken. The other gallery and ready room will attend to his poetry and writing. The Ken Saro-Wiwa rooms aim to put together a film and audio project where is incredible story will be told and preserved for posterity and can be accessed easily. Please help us transform the space into this reality by donating your tax dollars - or any dollars to our foundation.