18 Verses

Grada Kilomba
18 Verses, 2022
18 charcoaled wooden pieces, engraved poem, hand painted with gold leaf, fabric, 8 channel sound installation. Duration 30 min.
Variable Dimensions

18 Verses is an installation by Grada Kilomba formed by a poem composed of 18 verses, written by the artist, engraved and hand painted on wood pieces, each of which was carefully burned and is displayed in the exhibition room and immersed in a sonorous landscape. The burning process is an ancient technique, in which the pine wood pieces go through fire and water several times, allowing the wood to reveal its unique surface or skin, a visual metaphor, which Kilomba uses to explore issues of identity, displacement, water surveillance, and cyclical violence. The boats are now navigating in opposite directions: from South to North, and from East to West, in reference to the boats used to transport millions of enslaved Africans as well as the dramatic migrant routes that cross the Mediterranean today. In this sculptural installation, the artist shifts from the outside to the inside, from the past to the present and its compulsive repetition. In a state of chaos and disorder, the installation is arranged around the poem. From beneath the waters emerges an imaginary female entity, mantled in fabrics, guardian of the poem. In a gesture of affect and warmth, each engraved verse is hand painted with gold leaf, and translated into five languages: Kimbundu, Yoruba, Creole, Portuguese, English, Arabic, honouring a timeless yet present narrative. A sonorous landscape immerses the room where human breathing negotiates its own space amidst the noise of wind and waves. The insistent repetition of sounds produced by touching or striking objects becomes a metaphor for the systemic repetition of violence and simultaneously for the prevalence of the human and the poetic.