È WÁARÍ - KARP
KAMINA, TOGO / 2023
Kamina Art Research Platform (KARP)
Exhibition
Residency
Photography
LINK TO PHOTO SERIES ︎
During my residency in Kamina, I embarked on a project to explore the concept of the triptych, not only in the number of masks but also through three collages and three series of photographs. Harnessing the raw materials sourced from the site itself and engaging with the individuals who inhabit it, I breathed new life into discarded elements, weaving together a collage rich in history, texture, and human expression.
It was within the storied confines of the former antenna guardhouse, now a symbol of transition between past and present, interior and exterior, that I unveiled my work. Here, amidst the echoes of bygone eras, I chose this a space of transition (between outside and inside) to showcase my art, bridging the gap between what once was and what stands before us now.
Kamina (the city of tales and masks), a former German military base in
central Togo, where Africa’s largest radio antenna was built to contact Berlin
during the Nazi invasion. The tower was built with the sweat of enslaved
Togolese on their own land. Many dead, their culture extorted, their clothes
ripped, their rights taken away simply to build a means of communication from
land, at the time, part of Germany.
It was within the storied confines of the former antenna guardhouse, now a symbol of transition between past and present, interior and exterior, that I unveiled my work. Here, amidst the echoes of bygone eras, I chose this a space of transition (between outside and inside) to showcase my art, bridging the gap between what once was and what stands before us now.