The Somali Museum of Minnesota may be the only museum of Somali culture in the world. www.somalimuseum.com Video filmed and directed by Ismail Ouassaddine. Featuring interview with Somali Museum Executive Director, Osman Ali. For a century, there was a cultural history museum in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In the last 23 years, amidst war and upheaval, that museum has been destroyed and its artifacts have been scattered across East Africa and the world. The largest Somali diaspora community in the United States lives in Minnesota. Elders and parents in Minnesota’s Somali community increasingly worry that children born in the United States lack connection to their Somali heritage. In response, a diverse coalition of community members called for an initiative to catch hold of their traditional culture before it disappears. In 2009 Osman Ali began collecting artifacts of his native Somalia’s traditional nomadic culture. Mr. Ali traveled between Somalia and Minnesota, and offered presentations of his collection at schools and community centers. Today, the Somali Museum operates a small gallery on Lake Street in Minneapolis and hosts Mr. Ali’s collection of over 700 artifacts. This collection includes examples of everyday craftworks as well as paintings and sculptures created by artists in Somalia and the diaspora. The Somali Museum’s educational programming targets young Somalis who have grown up without connection to their culture, as well as Minnesotans of other ethnic heritage who are encountering Somali art and traditional culture for the first time. These programs explore the changing role of traditional arts and culture as the Somali people move across borders and time. By promoting the highest forms of Somali creativity, the Somali Artifact and Cultural Museum believes that it can also help to diminish harmful prejudice and misunderstanding.

• published: 30 Oct 2014
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