The government of Equatorial Guinea has donated US$100,000 toward the construction of the Cultural Museum of African Art, which will be located in the Bedford Stuyvesant, section of Brooklyn, N.Y. The museum will showcase the Eric Edwards African Artifacts collection.
Eric Edwards, a native of Brooklyn, has amassed one of the country’s largest collections of African art over the last 40 years. His collection, most of which is housed in a loft space in Brooklyn, consists of some 1,500 objects, including masks, statues and other artifacts such as garments, jewelry, weapons and household items used in African villages.
Guillermina Mekuy Mba Obono, Delegate Minister of Culture and Tourism visited and reviewed the collection in Brooklyn yesterday, as well as Medgar Evers College, where a few items of the collection are being displayed.
She was accompanied by Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba, permanent representative of Equatorial Guinea to the United Nations, and other officials from the UN mission and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
During their official visit to New York, the Equatorial Guinea delegation also attended the pledging event for the permanent memorial to honor the victims of slavery and transatlantic slave trade, and the launch of the international decade for people of African descent.