How can we avoid, refuse, or obscure the colonial gaze and create images challenging the status quo? What power dynamics are at play when capturing an image, and what does it take to create images that celebrate the multiplicity of identities and experiences that sustain cultures in times of ongoing crises?
These sets of questions animate The Anarchist Citizenship: People Made of Stories exhibition by exploring the possibilities of visual narratives, imagination and self-determination. The Anarchist Citizenship: People Made of Stories is informed by both local and diasporic visual culture and offers an alternative approach to understanding, broadcasting to/with/from as well as engaging with the world. By placing the agency of the people of Somali(land) at the centre of the narrative, it attempts to challenge the Eurocentric, (neo)colonial and imperialist hierarchies of who gets to document, write, and think about whom.
For this iteration of The Anarchist Citizenship, we invite Somali (diasporic) artists navigating the waters of cultural production, histories, war traumas, (diasporic) lifeworlds and possible futures. This exhibition is a holding space for visual, sonic, and poetic stories taking the form of installations, film screenings, poetry programmes, photography, archives, workshops, textiles and dialogic spaces.
Within this context, the spatial design takes on a crucial role – the exhibition design serves as an intermediary between the different artistic positions. It mirrors the provocative visual language, vibrant cosmos, aesthetic sensibilities and storytelling that define contemporary Somaliland – zooming into specifically its capital city, Hargeisa. The presented works reflect the collective efforts of those who participate in its creation, weaving together stories, histories, and language to create visual narratives that celebrate the complexities of citizenship in this region.
Together with collaborators and contributors Kinsi Abdulleh, Rashid Ali, Abdulla Barre, Salman Dirir, Sumia Juxun, Elmi Original, Mustafa Saeed and The Somali Museum UK, Amal Alhaag and Nadine Stijns will present a special The Anarchist Citizenship programme. Consisting of a visual installation, a screening and public gatherings that explore the complexities and joys of Somali social life, memory work and the ways communities create alternative ways of being together as survival strategies.
The exhibition is on show until 26 Jan 2025 at Framer Framed in Amsterdam.
Location
Framer Framed
Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71
1093 KS, Amsterdam
Opening times
27 Oct – 26 Jan
Tuesday – Sunday, 12:00-18:00
