Intimacy and Distance
Intimacy and Distance is a performative work realised in and around the Palazzo Pisani S. Marina as part of Diaspora Pavilion during the 57th Venice Biennale, 2017.
Inspired by Ama Ata Aidoo’s 1992 poem As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence, the work collects and archives narratives and stories from womxn of colour to explores post-colonial identities, migrations and journeys, political, social and cultural agency, kinship amongst womxn of colour and everyday methods and strategies of decolonisation.
Through interventions throughout the building, performing rituals and inviting close associates to speak their voices into the spaces of the Palazzo, to whisper, scream and utter their presences and absences into being, giving agency to the voices of womxn of colour and bring forth the voices of their ancestors.
This is a sample of the recorded performances as part of my project As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence. For Ama. For Aba. For Charlotte and Adjoa.
The performances in this video are informed by Ritual Actions given to me by the contributors to this project, which were filmed and performed in the Palazzo site of the Diaspora Pavilion in Venice and make up part of the Intimacy and Distance installation.
