Reading the Realness (2017-ongoing)

Harold Offeh works in a range of media including performance, video, photography and social arts practice. Offeh often employs humour as a means to confront the viewer with historical narratives and aspects of contemporary culture. He is interested in the space created by the inhabiting or embodying of history. Recent projects have explored encounters with museum objects and artefacts, forgotten queer histories and intersections of the body and technology.

Reading the Realness is a performance and its documentation acquired for Leeds Art Gallery. Every time the work is performed, the resulting documentation – films, scripts and photographs – become part of an evolving and living archive. The script is always a re-enactment of an existing panel show discussion that is selected in dialogue with the artist and a culturally diverse participant group, chosen via a targeted call-out, who then perform live.

Reading the Realness draws on rehearsal strategies from Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal’s (1931–2009) ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’, encouraging participants and audiences to critically consider the performance of self within contemporary media debates and – more broadly – to better understand ourselves and each other. Indicative subjects for contemporary scripts may include debates around colonial statues, positive discrimination or use of the term ‘Queer’. The performance explores how bonds and connections between people can be strengthened when communities are increasingly fractured and individuals isolated. Reading the Realness is a fascinating and multi-faceted work that responds to the need for nuanced discussion about intersectionality, social identity and the urgency of building solidarity across difference. Responding to contemporary situations and debates, Offeh’s work is about building understanding and empathy through consideration of other subject positions, strengthening connections between people at a time when it is sorely needed.

Harold Offeh’s Reading the Realness will be part of Leeds Art Gallery’s re-opening Autumn/Winter programme in 2021 and will play a pivotal role through performance, collaboration and conversation when the gallery can finally welcome audiences back. Having worked in Leeds for over 10 years, Offeh has strong ties to the city and the Rapid Response Fund acquisition chimes with Leeds Art Gallery’s ethos to ensure that the gallery’s programme reflects the diversity of the communities it serves.

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