The Willing (Sharjah)
2023 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
40:00 minutes
Helina Metaferia
By Way of Revolution is a series of works by Helina Metaferia that addresses the inherited histories of protest that inform contemporary social movements. In the project, Metaferia works intrinsically with female descendants of prominent historical black activists to produce video art; with women of color organizations to produce socially engaged work; with “radicalism” archives and performance stills to produce works on paper and tapestries; and with museum, gallery, and public spaces to produce participatory performances. Tapestry (Gewel) (2023) is one of a series of tapestries that are all subtitled with names of traditional storytellers from across the African continent. The hand stitched patchwork of images echoes African-American quilting traditions, which historically have centered storytelling and community building amongst women. Tapestry (Gewel) includes silk screened archives of American civil rights protests, scanned from library archives, specifically, photographs by Bettye Lane from Crown Heights Demonstration for Black Civil Rights (1978) and the Black Civil Rights Demonstration (1979) in Brooklyn, New York, from the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard University Radcliffe Institute. The tapestries become activated during the artist’s documented performance entitled The Willing where they are worn as regalia to adorn the female performers. During the performance she engages in song, movement, and text, to share the story of five generations of women in her family who participated in defiant actions against colonization, racial, and patriarchal oppression in Ethiopia and the United States. For Metaferia, the video of the performance is integral to the broader resonance of the tapestries.
Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, assemblage, video, performance, and social engagement. The daughter of Ethiopian activist immigrants unable to return home after their studies because of the political situation, with a mother who led a nonprofit organization advocating for the rights of Ethiopian women, raised a Black person of the diaspora in the US, Metaferia’s biography plays an important role in her practice, which asks broadly where does history and revolution live? She proposes it lives in archives, genealogies, canons, and oral histories, but also in bodies, acts of reunion, in holding trauma and joy, in dreaming.
Colors:
Other related works, blended automatically
» see more
© » KADIST
Helina Metaferia
2023By Way of Revolution is a series that addresses the inherited histories of protest that inform contemporary social movements...
Related works sharing similar palette
» see more
© » ARTS EQUATOR
Podcast Interview: Performance Photographers | Arts Equator Thinking and Talking about Arts and Culture in Southeast Asia Festival (Podcast) Crispian Chan (by Izdiyad Ahmad), Bernie Ng (by Biru Chua), Kuang Jingkai April 24, 2019 Duration: 45 min In this interview with Crispian Chan , Bernie Ng and Kuang Jingkai , three photographers of theatre and dance, we get to know more about a profession that’s sometimes taken for granted but is an essential aspect of the packaging of a performance...
© » ART & OBJECT
5 Art Restoration Fails That Will Blow Your Mind | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...
Other works by: » Helina Metaferia
» see more
© » KADIST
Helina Metaferia
2023By Way of Revolution is a series that addresses the inherited histories of protest that inform contemporary social movements...
© » KADIST
Helina Metaferia
2019By Way of Revolution is a series of works by Helina Metaferia that addresses the inherited histories of protest that inform contemporary social movements...
Related works found in the same semantic group
» see more
© » KADIST
Sahej Rahal
2015Within the narrative of Sahej Rahal’s The rocks we will find, beings perform absurd acts in derelict corners of the city, emerging into the everyday as if from the cracks of our civilization, transforming them into liminal sites of ritual, and challenging ways in which we experience time and space...
© » KADIST
McCallum + Tarry
2013In Endurance, 26 homeless youths stand still looking directly into the camera for an hour without speaking...