El Loko, coming from a Ghanaian family, was born as Edo Lucien Loko in Pédakondji in Togo in 1950. In Accra, Ghana, from which his great-grandfather had moved, he was trained as a textile designer from 1965 to 1970 and then practised this profession in neighbouring Tema. He had his "awakening experience" as an artist at the Goethe Institute in Accra when he visited an exhibition of the Nigerian "Oshogbo School".
In 1971, El Loko moved to Germany to study sculpture, painting and graphics with Joseph Beuys, Rolf Crummenauer and Erwin Heerich at the Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he graduated as a master student in 1977. He created woodblock prints, sculptures, installations, drawings, graphics, photographs, paintings and performances in almost four decades, using an extremely wide range of working techniques and forms of expression. El Loko participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions on several continents and his work has been widely published. In addition, he repeatedly organised workshops for artistic and intercultural exchange in Europe and Africa.
El Loko, who lived and worked in Cologne (Germany) until his death in 2016, was one of the first African artists to venture into the art worlds of the West. His autobiographical book "Der Blues in mir" (The Blues in Me) - published in 1986, written in German and illustrated with woodcuts by the author - vividly recounts how he had to fight for and invent his identity and his path as a human being and artist at that time.
In Germany, El Loko experimented from 1972 onwards primarily with woodcuts before turning to painting in the mid-1980s. His series "Landschaften" (Landscapes), which interspersed colourful architectural elements with human faces, bodies and body parts and aesthetically dealt with the theme of threat, confusion and alienation in an urban context and how to overcome them, subsequently gained great popularity.
Subsequently, it became characteristic of El Loko that, for all the diversity of his work, he took up certain themes almost cyclically. His series of works "World Faces", "Cosmic Letters" and "Figure Landscapes" played a special role here, which he reinterprets again and again, seeking different perspectives and positions. Through a non-hierarchical treatment of the face or the bust portrait, the "World Faces" convey the vision's striving to abolish the differences between people of different origins, world views and gender. A utopian striving for a universal language and a global identity manifests itself in his series of works "Cosmic Letters", in a sense an alphabet of his own characteristic visual language. In paintings and pigmented steles made of wood and steel, El Loko combines ornaments, figurations, signs and ciphers of different origins and strives, by means of this symbolic sign language, for an art language that can be understood worldwide and for the construction of a meaningful world of his own.
Inspired by Joseph Beuys and the dissolution of the conventional bourgeois concept of art, El Loko also turned to temporary art actions from 1976 onwards. He developed his "duel performances", which combined poetry, song and drum rhythms and were characterised by the principle of rhetorical surprise and immediate reaction to each other.
In his installations, El Loko deals primarily with Western images of Africa and clichés in an often provocative manner. In his popular work "How to explain pictures to a pack" (1995), he ironically takes up Joseph Beuys' action "How to explain pictures to a dead hare" (1965): A gathered pack of 70 animals stands in front of a map of Africa hanging on the wall, composed of various elements and symbols like a puzzle. With this installation, El Loko not only posed questions about images of Africa, but also traced his own situation at the same time: The pack as the world that lies outside of him looks on the one hand expectantly, on the other hand more or less uncomprehendingly at him as an artist. In "The eternal mask" (2006), the artist painted 50 portrait photos of Africans with acrylic, alluding to Western views of African people: Through the disfiguring colour, the faces lose their individuality, become anonymous and frightening. In his work "Africa down", partly done in Cologne (Germany) and finished in Cape Town (South Africa), El Loko addresses the positions of Africans in the world. The visitors to the exhibition were forced to walk on 256 photos of Africans and 53 African national flags lying on the floor, through which the artist makes the oppression and devaluation of Africa and its people through colonialism and through corrupt, selfish and ignorant African rulers almost physically comprehensible. His provocative installation "Mohrenköpfe - Hohlköpfe" (2005), which questions the role of kleptomaniac politicians of black skin colour who systematically ruin their own continent and do not care about cultural matters or the economic or social development of their countries, aims in a similar direction. As in all his works, El Loko was not interested in simplistic answers or accusations, but in a serious examination of painful and uncomfortable topics as well.
Image 1: Vogelakrobatik, 1996, 250x30x20 cm // Image 2: PE.VO.TO.7, EL Loko, 2017, 135x99 cm // Image 3: El Loko at Museum Fünf Kontinente (Karin Guggeis, El Loko, Stefan Eisenhofer) // Image 4: Dokponou (Der Gescheiterte - The failed), El Loko, 2013, Acrylic on canvas, 80x120 cm. // Image 5: Vogelakrobatik, 1996, 250x30x20, Museum Fünf Koninente, Munich. All images: Copyright Museum Fünf Kontinente, Munich.
In Western modernity, time is often conceived as a linear progression—clearly divided into past, present, and future. This conception structures not only individual life trajectories but also institutional and political imaginaries. Yet, across many religious and spiritual traditions—be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism, or various African cosmologies—time is not necessarily a fixed chronology. Rather, it is a dynamic, layered continuum in which the boundaries between past, present, and future are porous. In such worldviews, the dead do not merely belong to the past; they remain active presences, situated in a time ahead of us. We walk toward them. In this sense, the deceased possess a temporality that exceeds linear sequence—they remember, they anticipate, and they guide.
It is within this framework that the work of El Loko (1950–2016) continues to resonate. His life and artistic practice offer an enduring voice on questions of migration, identity, and the ongoing legacies of colonialism. Though physically absent since 2016, his presence persists—both as a historical figure and as a visionary of possible futures. In a world increasingly marked by identity-based closures and a renewed denial of the Other, his trajectory offers a powerful counterpoint: an invitation to reimagine belonging, movement, human difference – all within the framework of migration.
This contribution proposes a return to El Loko’s oeuvre from a literary and historical perspective. His work—spanning visual arts, literature, and intellectual engagement—creates spaces of reflection where the migrant experience is not reduced to moments of departure or arrival. Instead, migration emerges as a temporal rupture: a lived experience of dislocation, memory, anticipation, and transformation. In this light, the struggle against racism is not only a social or political endeavor but also a confrontation with hegemonic temporalities.
El Loko’s artistic practice documents and contests the historical fractures experienced by African migrants in Europe, while simultaneously gesturing toward alternative epistemologies. His paintings, graphic works, and writings become acts of resistance and remembrance—counter-archives that preserve erased histories and imagine new futures. Through his work, we are reminded that art is not merely a reflection of time, but a mode of temporal intervention. It gathers the dead, the living, and the not-yet-born into a shared, contested space of meaning.
Born in Pédakondji (Togo) in 1950, El Loko studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy from 1971 after training in Accra – under Joseph Beuys, among others. However, his artistic career in Germany was interrupted in 1978 when he was refused permanent residency. His return to Togo marked the beginning of a transcultural oeuvre that is situated between Africa and Europe, art and politics, biography and society. In an interview with Manfred Loimeier, El Loko describes how his artist's name developed from his initials:
“Please explain how you came to call yourself EL Loko?
EL Loko is my real name, I just changed it slightly. My name is Edoh Lucien Loko. If you take the two first names, you have E and L and then Loko. That's exactly what it says in my passport. At first I started writing E.L., but at some point both letters asked: "Why should we stand alone? We're moving in together." That's how E.L. became EL.”[1] (Loimeier 2012, 165-166).
El Loko’s choice of name is itself a statement—a gesture toward a philosophy of togetherness and connection. As he himself explained, the name refers not only to the link between letters but also to a broader principle of unity: a weaving of identity, community, and interrelation. Yet, as Susanne Gehrmann (2004) has noted, the name also evokes the notion of madness—la folie—a theme frequently present in artistic and literary traditions. This “madness” should not be dismissed as pathological; rather, it marks a form of social marginality that enables acute perception. From the fringes, the artist often sees most clearly the fractures and contradictions of the society that excludes him. In this sense, El Loko’s marginality (in German social context) becomes epistemological—a vantage point from which to critique dominant structures and imagine otherwise. He, seen as peripheral or subaltern, becomes the seer, the chronicler of the everyday.
El Loko’s broader body of work—spanning over four decades and encompassing painting, literature, and graphic design—bears the traces of diasporic experience and migratory existence. His artistic production reflects not only physical movement between places but also a constant negotiation of cultural and epistemic borders. He emerges as an important figure within the postcolonial African intellectual landscape, offering aesthetic and philosophical responses to questions of identity, memory, and historical trauma. His work invites us to listen to voices from the margins—canine, mad, or exiled—and to reconsider who is permitted to speak, to see, and to remember.
This broader inquiry into identity and displacement cannot be separated from the historical and political conditions shaping the African diaspora in Germany. El Loko’s personal and artistic trajectory is deeply intertwined with the lesser-known histories of African presence in postwar and postcolonial Germany—a presence marked by invisibility, marginalization, and resistance.
The African diaspora in Germany and Europe has become a central topic of public debate, particularly due to the intensification of migration policies and the ongoing debates on cultural diversity and integration. In Germany and the EU in particular, the rise of far-right parties has strongly influenced political and social discourse. These debates often centre on the so-called ‘danger of migration’ and the assumed inability of certain migrant groups to integrate into society. These narratives, which often link migration and crime, shape the public image of migration and cultural diversity and contribute to social polarisation.
In this context, however, the question also arises as to how present people with an African background are in Germany. Compared to the former colonial powers such as France, England and Belgium, their presence is significantly lower. According to a census conducted in 2024 by the Statistisches Bundesamt (Mikrozensus - Bevölkerung nach Migrationshintergrund. Erstergebnisse 2023), around 1.27 million people of African origin live in Germany. This low number can be attributed to four main factors: (01) the short duration of the German colonial presence in Africa, (02) the low migration of Africans to Germany during the colonial period due to German colonial policy. This colonial policy is based on a concept of nation (03) that defines a unit by common descent, language, religion or geography. This refers to a nativist identity with a closed concept of ethnic groups and communities. This creates an exclusive understanding of belonging and demarcation. In contrast, France, for example, pursued an approach that is influenced by the idea that a nation is a community of will as well as a community of experience (Assmann 2006, 21; 41; 160). This view characterised French colonial policy and led to the policy of assimilation and association. The massive migration of African students or Africans to Paris, Marseille, etc. through the colonial school, for example, contributed to the formation of an African diaspora in France. (04) A fourth factor is guest worker and educational migration after the Second World War (Oguntoye 1997; Aitken & Rosenhaft 2013). While the African diaspora in France emerged largely from the colonial legacy, African migration to Germany was characterised by economic and educational cooperation between the two German states, the GDR and the FRG, and African countries (Kassé 1995). In the GDR and FRG, African students were sponsored in order to train future political elites for socialist or capitalist systems. In addition, labour, for example from Angola or Mozambique, was recruited to support the economic reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War (Schenck 2023).
The concept of the ‘African diaspora’ in Germany therefore remains very heterogeneous. It includes people with different migration histories, including descendants of transatlantic enslavement, labour migrants, refugees and students, etc. Afro-Germans and African migrants have little political visibility and are hardly represented in central political institutions. Only recently has Germany begun to address its colonial legacy through debates on reparations and the renaming of streets - often initiated by diasporic and civil society organisations. This broader reckoning with Germany’s colonial past parallels the emergence of African migrant voices in literature, which began gaining momentum in the mid-1980s despite initial marginalisation.
The first wave of African migration literature in Germany, which emerged in the mid-1980s, was primarily characterised by students who came to Germany for their academic education. However, their voices gained only limited public attention - a reflection of the historical invisibility, political marginalisation and colonial fading that characterise the African diaspora in Germany. These included Nsekuye Bizimana (Müssen Afrikaner den Weißen alles nachmachen? 1985), Aly Diallo (Die Täuschung, 1987) as well as El Loko, Chima Oji and Daniel Mepin.
A second wave followed in the 1990s, in which African women increasingly made literary appearances. Examples of this are Amma Darko with Der verkaufte Traum (1991) and Philomène Atyamé with Abengs Entscheidung. Eine schwarz-weiße Liebe in Kamerun (2002). This phase also produced works by refugees and other students, including Thomas Mazimaka (Ein Tutsi in Deutschland: Das Schicksal eines Flüchtlings, 1997), Idrissa Keita (Der Wind bläst, 1994) and Osman Alimamy Sankoh (Ein Vermittler zwischen zwei Welten: Afrika und Deutschland, 1999). Authors such as André Ekama (Schwarzer sein im weißen Himmel, 2007) also thematised migration experiences and questions of identity. These works not only reflect personal experiences, but also scrutinise colonial structures and racist discrimination in Germany. They tie in with the political commitment of the former African diaspora (Diagne 2012).
As early as the interwar period, African activists raised their voices and demanded equal rights in petitions. Organisations such as the African Aid Association in Hamburg campaigned for better living conditions in the Weimar Republic. These developments show that the debate about colonialism and migration on the part of the African diaspora is not a recent phenomenon, but can be traced back to long historical continuities.
Among his literary production, the autobiographical novel Der Blues in mir (1986) (engl. The Blues in Me) remains the most cited and most central. The novel combines elements of poetry, documentary and personal reflection. In the work, El Loko uses the blues as a metaphor for the emotional turmoil of migrants in Germany, in particular the feeling of alienation, racism and the search for identity. Characterised by legal disputes and personal challenges in Germany, the work reinforces the emotional impact of the narrative (Daré 2015: 135). The Cuckoo's Egg Ahoba (2009) is little known. Just like the work Der Blues in mir, his novel also deals with themes such as loss of home, experiences of foreignness and the search for identity.
El Loko deliberately combines different media in his literary texts, including official documents, woodcuts and newspaper cuttings, in order to convey his message more forcefully (Daré 2015: 135). This diversity of media forms a bridge between art and literature. His works function not only as an expression of personal experience, but also as a critical reflection on migration and intercultural challenges. In addition, they offer a cathartic function by not only documenting migration experiences, but also actively questioning and reinterpreting them (Diagne 2012, 144).
El Loko’s work operates within what cultural theorist Homi K. Bhabha calls a “Third Space” – a hybrid zone where cultural meaning is not fixed but negotiated (Bhabha 1994). El Loko’s position within this Third Space enabled him to see and compare both Togolese and German societies from within and beyond. For El Loko, this meant refusing binary labels and instead embracing a fluid position between cultures, nations, and artistic traditions. By situating himself between Germany and Togo, between Beuys’ avant-garde and African visual systems, El Loko engages in a comparative reflection on societies: their values, exclusions, and imaginaries of the ‘Other’. El Loko turns these inherited comparisons into tools of critique. His works are not only personal narratives of displacement; they are decolonial interventions that call for alternative ways of imagining cultural coexistence and historical responsibility.
Resistance is a well-known attitude of authors of migration literature. Resistance does not simply mean being against, but rather asserting oneself and claiming one's place. Confronted with rejection and racism on a daily basis, El Loko – like many writers of this generation – epitomises this form of resistance. This is expressed in different ways - artistically, intellectually and existentially - and is reflected both in his work as a writer and artist and in his relationship with the German authorities and the German public. Many forms of resistance can be recognised in EL Loko's works.
An essential form of his resistance was directed against the clichéd depiction of Africa in Western media and discourses. The stereotypical perception of the continent as a place of war, poverty, corruption and chaos represents a clear distortion of Africa's real socio-cultural diversity (Krems 2007, 18). Many writers, including El Loko, consciously distanced themselves from polarising identity attributions between ‘own’ and ‘foreign’. He saw it as his literary task to break through these entrenched and pejorative images of identity. For him, this resistance was not only an intellectual, but also a socio-cultural process that was intended to help migrants maintain their independence in the new society. Instead of reinforcing divisions, El Loko looked for ways to connect. He refused to be categorised even as a Togolese, African or German writer, but rather saw himself as a traveller who was in a constant dialogue with the world and nature. For many writers from diasporic or postcolonial backgrounds, this approach allows them to challenge dominant narratives and explore complex, hybrid identities shaped by migration, displacement, and global interconnectivity. By situating his work within this framework, he joins a global literary conversation that interrogates how histories, cultures, and experiences intersect beyond traditional borders.
In addition to his artistic exploration of identity issues, resistance also became a political act for El Loko. A central theme of his work The Blues in Me is his personal conflict with the German authorities. His idealised image of Germany was severely shaken by his confrontation with the authorities. He had believed that decent and hard-working people did not have to worry about deportation - especially not if they came from Togo. But the reality was different: in a letter to the immigration authorities, he defended his artistic work as a bridge between cultures, but the answer was disappointing: his stay would contradict the development policy objectives of the Federal Republic of Germany. This rejection is exemplary of the structural difficulties faced by African migrants in Germany. El Loko therefore also used his work as a political statement against institutional injustices, reflecting the social challenges faced by migrants.
El Loko also formally breaks through rigid narrative structures. In The Blues in Me, he combines texts, images and sculptures to create a multi-layered, hybrid narrative. This interweaving of media not only questions the boundaries of autobiography, but also reflects the fragmented experience of migration. El Loko integrates newspaper clippings, reports from immigration authorities and visual elements to open up different perspectives on his story.
In addition to literature, El Loko also realised his resistance in the visual arts. He combined traditional African and modern Western forms of expression and created an art that was located in both African and European art traditions. His works not only served as a platform for representing African perspectives in Germany, but also as a challenge to hegemonic Western art norms.
The debate on colonial history in Germany shows that the African diaspora plays a central role in coming to terms with colonial atrocities and their consequences. It has raised public awareness of the suppressed colonial past and brought the debate on these issues into social and academic discourse. In this context, the current critical debate on knowledge production from a decolonial perspective is becoming increasingly relevant. It calls for the deconstruction of Eurocentric knowledge systems and the recognition of African forms of knowledge that have been historically marginalised.
El Loko contributes significantly to this debate and to the circulation of knowledge through his works. He integrates traditional African philosophies and narrative structures into his oeuvre, making it accessible to a wide audience. In his cosmograms, he visualises alternative knowledge systems that combine European and African traditions of thought. This intercultural approach questions colonial notions of knowledge and creates new approaches to African perspectives.
The circulation of knowledge in this context takes place through various mechanisms: e.g. through oral traditions and memory transmission within diaspora communities, preserving and transmitting cultural knowledge; through literary and cultural translation and intertextuality. Art and literature serve as spaces for the transmission and transformation of knowledge by linking different experiences. Through his art, El Loko not only contributes to the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge, but also creates hybrid forms of knowledge that combine African and Western knowledge. This illustrates that art and literature are essential platforms for the circulation of knowledge, bringing not only African but also global perspectives into dialogue with each other.
El Loko's work is at the centre of a decolonial critique of the Eurocentric knowledge system. He integrates African ways of thinking, oral traditions and spiritual concepts into his texts and images. His so-called cosmograms epitomise this philosophy: as visual spaces of knowledge in which the past, present and future are not thought of in linear but cyclical terms. His art acts as a platform for the visualisation of marginalised knowledge and opens up new perspectives on memory, migration and global justice.
At a time when migration and racism continue to be central themes of social debate, El Loko remains an important thinker whose productions point to both the challenges and the future of the African diaspora. He is more than a chronicler of the African diaspora – he is a mediator between worlds. His works call for a confrontation with colonial heritage, institutional racism and cultural self-empowerment. At a time when migration is being negotiated globally, his work remains highly topical: it calls for memories to be re-read – as a source of knowledge for a fairer future. His works call on us to learn from the past, to fight against the injustices of the present and to build a more just future. In this sense, El Loko's literary and artistic contributions have garnered significant recognition in Togo and across West Africa, where his works are celebrated for their profound exploration of identity, migration, and postcolonial legacies. Throughout his life, El Loko maintained a dual presence in both Togo and Germany, facilitating cultural exchange and dialogue between the two countries. His work has been also featured in various international exhibitions, including the Johannesburg Art Fair in South Africa, underscoring his influence in the broader African art scene. These platforms have amplified his voice, allowing his reflections on identity and belonging to reach a global audience. And when we understand migration as part of a shared history, we realise that racism is not just a problem of the present, but a structure that does not have to determine the future. The deceased, just like El Loko, are already part of this future. We can and should learn from his work and use these insights to shape a future in which we not only free ourselves from the mistakes of the past, but also focus on the knowledge of all those who came before us and the efforts of those who will come after us.
[1] All translations from the original texts into English are my own. Original quote: „Erklären Sie bitte, wie es dazu kam, dass Sie sich EL Loko nennen? EL Loko ist mein richtiger Name, ich habe ihn nur leicht verwandelt. Ich heiße Edoh Lucien Loko. Wenn Sie die beiden Vornamen nehmen, haben Sie E und L und dann Loko. Genauso steht es in meinem Pass. Erst habe ich angefangen, E.L. zu schreiben, aber irgendwann haben beide Buchstaben gefragt: „Warum sollen wir allein stehen? Wir ziehen uns zusammen.“ So ist aus dem E.L. EL geworden.“ (Loimeier 2012, 165-166).
Published August 2025