Mónica de Miranda, Black Tales 2021, Copyright: Mónica de Miranda
Cindy Sissokho
Born Montreuil, France, lives and works in Nottingham, UK
Mónica de Miranda
Born Porto, Portugal (1976), lives and works in London, UK and Lisbon, Portugal
XEXA
Born Lisbon, Portugal (2000), lives and works in London, UK and Lisbon, Portugal
A thousand tales 2024
speakers
Courtesy of the artists
Artist’s statement
A thousand tales is a multimedia installation project developed by visual artist Mónica de Miranda and curator Cindy Sissokho, which uses visual and sonic interventions to open up a conversation about belonging and diaspora, particularly through the notions of identity, memory in relation to space, displacements and history. The project takes the form of a live archive transmitted online and live that contextualizes the notion of place in relation to movements that arose from anti-colonial liberation struggles in Africa in order to uncover its connection to the current cultural and social landscapes in Europe. Exploring new future places of belonging and constructing a sustainable community in between Africa and its diaspora, the sound installation features a series of field recordings, interviews, a sound escape and compositions created in collaboration with sound artist XEXA from São Tomé, who also performs Silver vibrations as part of the Lagos Biennial public programmes. The archive is not static, but is constantly being constructed in movement and shifting, allowing for further diasporic narratives.Offering an understanding of colonialism as more than a system of economic exploitation and political domination, but as a framework of social constructs, creating relationships based on hegemonic forces that have repercussions on the current experience of immigration, racism and contemporary cultural displacements. The sound archive materials also allow the viewer to enter into the raw emotional experiences evoked by these memories
A THOUSAND TALES’s work is included in REFUGE teams.
