The Storyteller With No Audience

A Koi board is a stylised carved representation of ancestors. It’s often made out of wood, as it’s believed each tree has a spirit and the koi is designed with the spirits within.

In this episode, we hear from the ancestral spirit of a Koi board which once occupied the spiritual centre of its community in the Purari Delta region of Papua New Guinea. It tells the story of its creation, function and current state of mind having been displaced for over a century.

On this sonic museum tour, Hanna Adan, with the assistance of experts, explores the fascinating spiritual landscape of the object’s origin, the role of Christian missionaries in colonisation and asks - what is the Museum’s duty towards objects of spiritual significance when the cultures of the source communities have drastically changed?

Produced and Presented by Hanna Adan With story by George Bailey Assistant Producer and Editor: Kwaku Dapaah-Danquah Researcher: Seyi Bolarin Starring Emmanuel Tipi Contributors: Joshua Bell, Sarah Byrne and Anna Johnstone Production Mentors: Jane Thurlow and Corinna Jones Sound Designer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter Tech Producer: Duncan Hannant Executive Producers: Khaliq Meer & Leanne Alie Commissioned for BBC Sounds Audio Lab by Khaliq Meer Artwork by Joshua Obeng-Boateng

Om Podcasten

It’s generally agreed that a trip to a museum is almost certainly educational, at times entertaining and often enlightening. The fortress-like buildings tend to be full of treasures and objects from all over the world, bringing the past to life in wondrous ways. But have you ever stopped to think how the objects found their way there and what they might say if they could tell their own stories?

In the Museum of Bad Vibes, Hanna Adan explores the cultural & spiritual significance an Akan Gold weight, Benin Bronze, a Chinese Ancestral Tablet and a Papua New Guinean Koi board; learns how they they got to be in some of the UK’s most celebrated museums and asks whether they could or should be returned to their countries and communities of origin.