Untitled Poem (one sorrow, one revolution) (2022)

Grada Kilomba draws on memory, trauma, gender and post-colonialism to interrogate concepts of knowledge, power and violence. Her multifaceted practice spans performance, video, sculptural installation and sound pieces, all serving as conduits for decolonial storytelling. Untitled Poem (one sorrow, one revolution) (2023) has been extracted from the installation 18 Verses (2023) that consists of 18 charcoaled wood blocks engraved with poems by the artist in gold leaf, written in Yoruba, Cape Vere Creole, Portuguese, Syrian Arabic and English, to further explore cyclical violence and the relationship between narrative, power and repetition.  Untitled Poem (one sorrow, one revolution) continues Kilomba’s unique practice of storytelling and performance, which intentionally disrupts the proverbial ‘white cube’ through a new and urgent decolonial language and imagery.

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