A History of Remembering 

Originally presented as part of Citizen Noir, a socially engaged program of events held at Kunsthalle am Hamburgerplatz, organised and curated by Isaiah Lopaz during his guest professor position at Kunsthochschule Weissensee, A History of Remembering features moments in Black histories told primarily from the perspectives of Black women. The seed for this work was planted during a “meet up” that Lopaz organised for Black people living in Berlin. After facilitating several workshops, Lopaz noted that many Black people felt isolated from other Black people living in the city. During this dinner various histories were shared by the multilocal, multicultural attendees. Histories that are marginalised, absent, or dubiously recorded. In this series, Black histories have been navigated through poetry, reportage, historical autobiographical fiction, and essays. In Kinyarwanda, Lingala, Shona, Mauritian Creole, Jamaican Patois, German, Flemish, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English, local, regional, national, international, and interconnected histories have been archived and framed through the stories of Black women. Each rendition of this piece features the work of a chef who narrates historical moments through a multi course meal which the audience shares.

A History of Remembering has been performed as part of the Citizen Noir program at Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz / Kunsthochschule Weissensee, curated as part of the 10th Berlin Biennale at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, presented as part of a collaboration between Kunstverein Hamburg and the Reeperbahn Festival, and featured as part of the 7th AfroEuropean Biennial.

Images in order of appearance :
”We’ve Got Whole Worlds in our Hands”, 2018. Collage on magazine print 29 x 45 CM.
This collage was featured in the announcement for A History of Remembering III, performed at
Kunstwerk Institute for Contemporary Art as part of the 10th Berlin Biennale (Gabi Ngcobo, Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Serubiri Moses, Thiago de Paula Souza, and Yvette Mtumba, Berlin). Remaining images are documentations of this performance which took place on 28/07/2018.