Ukimya mshindo mkubwa. (the blaring silence).

'Among those who have suffered enslavement, colonization, steady and relentless economic exploitation, cultural asphyxiation, religious persecution, gender, race and class discrimination and political repression, silences should be seen as facts, because silences are indeed facts which have not been accorded the status of facts.’

Jacques Depelchin (DRC), Silences in African History

How can we escape from -- or transcend -- a history distorted by silence? When truth is protest, what is the shape of freedom?

In this installation, each balloon represents a silence/fact. Together, they are a history, poised at the moment of recovery. Here is the silenced history revealed as a wave, crashing and folding over itself through the ages. Here it is as a curved spine, twisting in the body of time.

If you listen for silence, will you hear a story of untold struggle and resilience?

Installation using black balloons, nylon string, iron nails, welded iron grate
9ft x 3 ft x 6 ft

Silence, Nafasi Art Space, Dar es Salaam
Group Exhibition, June 2018