Speaking to the significance of the event, curator of the “NSI, After the Harvest” symposium, Nkhensani Mkhari noted that the event was organized while examining plantation histories, through the lens of Africa's place in the world, as both sites of extraction and of excretion.

Nkhensani expressed that Africa is a continent where people mine for precious minerals while extracting from the continent, about 30 billion comes into Africa annually, However about 200 billion leaves the continent, hence there's a huge imbalance in terms of our role in the world. For excretion, he lamented how the continent has become a place where global north and America dump their excesses. “Such as computers, e-waste crisis, and Cantomanto, which is maybe one of the world's biggest secondhand clothing markets in the world. There's 40 million t-shirts arriving every week from the global north.

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So we have a crisis that sort of goes both ways. One of endless extraction, and one of endless dumping. And Africans are left to deal with that, you know?

So this exhibition looks at how artists address this question and a big part of it is the materiality” he added.

Meanwhile, Dutch Artist from Netherlands, Renzo Martens explained that the art world is becoming more and more global, as people from Africa, from Nigeria, and all parts of the world are now included in exhibitions across the globe. “In view of the African continent”, he noted that there are great art centers, great museums, but many Western museums have been financed entirely with the money taken away from plantations, from mines, palm oil, cocoa, and the likes.

Renzo further noted that the time has come, for the art world to start embracing everybody that contributes to the existence of the art world, which also includes impoverished people working on plantations, not just cultural elites who are able to travel or very smart students. “We need everybody. But I think it will be so good for the museum and for the people. If these key constituents of the museum, the people who actually paid for it, can be part of it” he envisaged.

The Founder, Asha Heritage Africa Foundation, and president of Icomus, Nigeria, Dr Oluwatoyin Shogbesan pointed out that the Nigerian heritage is still rich and present within our communities. She emphasized the need for us to value ourselves as Africans and actually look inward to see that there is a lot of value in who we are.

While pinpointing one thing she would like to address and restore in place, Dr. Shogbesan addressed the value system. “The value system is valuing each other.

There is no culture, there is no heritage without the people. It's the people that make the heritage. So I want to restore the people and the mindset that they are worthy.”she stated.

In view of the importance of the symposium, Okpe Alex, a Student of Trinity University and participant of the event noted the lessons derived. He highlighted the concept of culture and the need to preserve it respectfully. For his generation, he specified that the Genz generation should learn to stick to who they are, rather than chasing trends and trying to imitate other people’s culture.