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.
'One soul, one memory' (2023), is part of the larger installation 'Sounds of Water' (2023) which delves into philosophical explorations of interconnectedness and knowledge, drawing parallels between historical ideologies and contemporary understandings of existence. Through a series of neon-lit phrases from a poem written by Kilomba, the artist guides viewers on a cognitive journey through the intertwined realms of history, politics, and communal memory.
One piece, one life
One life, one body
One soul, one memory
One memory, one oblivion
One death, one sorrow
One sorrow, one revolution
Date: 2023
Medium: Neon
Price: EUR 25,000
Edition: 1/3
Dimensions: 3559 x 175mm
Grada Kilomba’s distinctive practice draws on the repressed history of colonialism and its traumatic legacy to create new forms of knowledge. In her emotive installation Table of Goods (2017), Kilomba memorialises centuries of labour and deaths of black bodies on sugar and chocolate plantations.