27/09/2026
Chapter II of the Vigatour Commentaries. This edition reveals our thoughts on different aspects of culture.
Alongside the voices of our contributors, August carried reflections of our own. These are three worth reading.
Swipe right to read.
This commentary explored bodybuilding’s beginnings in marble, centuries before it became a sport.
5 August 2026 — Marvelling at Marble and Muscle
“Before Eugen Sandow established bodybuilding as a sport at the turn of the 20th Century, it was an art built on the statues from antiquity to the Renaissance. These creations relied on both mythos and mathematics to build the superhuman in marble. This is why, fittingly, Mr Universe Steve Reeves had to make bodybuilding mainstream through his portrayal of the Roman demigod Hercules. This serves as a full circle cultural moment.”
This commentary explored the First World War as it was lived by the colonial subjects who fought it and what they were given when it ended.
24 August 2026 — The Colonialist War
“For many Europeans, the First World War is remembered as the war to end all wars. Yet for much of Africa and Asia, the end of the conflict changed very little.
It was a colonialist war fought by colonial subjects. Over a million Indian troops served overseas. The tirailleurs sénégalais fought in France. In East Africa, hundreds of thousands of African porters were conscripted into the Carrier Corps. A vast number of these subjects died of disease and hunger, carrying a war they had no part in starting. They also had to contend with the racism and discrimination of the time.
When the war ended, German colonies such as Tanganyika and Kamerun (now part of Tanzania and Cameroon, respectively) were transferred to the victorious powers as mandates. Many European peoples emerged from the war with states of their own. India and the African colonies were granted no such thing. Nobody asked them. Why would they?
Remembering this does not diminish the sacrifice of veterans. It simply broadens our understanding of who experienced the war, who truly benefited and how its legacy was felt around the world.
This is why culture matters.”
This commentary explored a son of Zanzibar,
