Barby Asante og samarbeidspartnere
Declaration of Independence
, 14:00

Photo: Nayara Leite

The performance explored ideas of independence and storytelling and invited us into a space for collective thinking, social ritual and re-enactment, blending together grief and celebration.

Developed in a workshop with Barby Asante and Foluke Taylor:
Alma, Anine Bråten, Atusa, Cynthia Njoki Kangethe, Davone J. Sirmans, Daniela, Ramos Arias, Eliyah Mesayer, Martha Lucia Stove, Mechu Rapela, Nayara Leite, Rabz Lansiquot, Rania Farah Sheikh Ibrahim , Sheila F. Kassim, Stina Amankwah, Shelmith Mwenesi Øseth and others.

Thank you to Edyta Gudbrandsen and Empo-group, Emma Wolukau-Wanamba, and Claudine Carine Ndayisaba.

Visuals – Jess Harrington and Barby Asante.
DJ and Music – Rabz Lansiquot and Foluke Taylor.
Script Editor – Foluke Taylor.

The project continues Barby Asante’s ongoing artistic research “As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence”, exploring social, cultural and political agencies of women of colour, navigating historic legacies of colonialism, independence, migration and the contemporary global socio-political climate.

Declaration of Independence started in 2017 at the Diaspora Pavilion in Venice and is dedicated to Khadija Saye, Mary Mende and Dina Aba Kwansema Edwin Baiden. Declaration of Independence has been created and recreated at Feminist Emergencies, Birkbeck, University of London, Body Politics, Troppenmusem, Amsterdam, The Library of Performing Rights, LADA, London, Tricksters Brewing Futures II, Tate Exchange/198, London, Relating Narratives, Horse Hospital, London, Art 50, BALTIC, Gateshead and Propositions #10: Instituting Otherwise, BAK, basis Voor actuele kunst, Utrecht.

Barby Asante is a London based artist, curator, and educator. Her collaborative, performative and dialogic works are concerned with the politics of place, space, identity and the histories and legacies of colonialism.

The project is co-funded by Bergen Municipality and the Creative Europe programme of the European Union as part of Re-Imagine Europe project.

What is independence and interdependence? How does the political affect the personal? What impact do historical declarations have on our lives? How do women´s stories exist and how they are made visible?