"Chini Ya Maji" (Swahili for 'underwater' and Sheng for 'what lies beneath the surface'), a sprawling paper, gravel and rope installation by Jordan Rita Seruya Awori (JRSA) accompanied by the sound piece "Uneasy ... meditations ... sibling a letter", which consists of the artist reading passages from So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ. These sounded excerpts about deep personal loss and hopes of renewal appear both in the sound piece and within the collages themselves, resonating with JRSA's own understanding of hope as something that must be actively excavated and tended. The full installation offers up a kind of collapsing of time into itself, wherein what has come before reflects in what is and what we imagine could be. JRSA uncovered stacks of family photo albums, in which she found images of her mother in her earlier years living in the U.S. and the artist reflects on and begins to unveil eerie similarities in her own experience of moving to Germany and encountering herself in a new environment. In this work, the artist discusses vulnerability in reencountering oneself but also the vulnerability and sometimes outright discomfort we may feel encountering each other.

Text and Images: Sakhile&me

Sound Art:

Uneasy…meditation…sibling a letter) - Listen here

Hope is the Thing With Feathers

Sakhile&me gallery , Frankfurt am Main

The title of the exhibition Hope is the Thing With Feathers borrows from the collaborative work co-created by Larry Bonćhaka and Sopo Kashakashvili (which in turn borrows its title from the 1861 poem by Emily Dickinson). Their practice together and individually aims to foster communion, the regard of self and other, in both public and private space, and to nurture relationships in and through acts of resistance and congregation. This has since evolved into the ongoing public art project Opened Flags.

The curatorial concept is inspired by the many artists, including the six who are part of this exhibition, whose work has influenced our creative approach over the past years. Artists at different stages of their practice, many of whom actively invest their time to build through social practice and alongside other artists, continually inviting their communities, close and afar, into both private and public spaces to share experiences, discuss topics that are curious and important to them, and at times daring to broach ones that are challenging to speak on in public.

Text: Sakhile&me