Exhibition
Gabrielle Goliath. This song is for ...
Kunsthaus Baselland
St. Jakob-Strasse
170, 4132 Muttenz
A groundbreaking installation on complex social issues, particularly those related to race, gender, and sexual violence.
Event details
Gabrielle Goliath is a South African artist working in multimedia. She is known for her conceptually sophisticated and sensitive reflections on complex social concerns, particularly in relation to issues of race, gender, and sexual violence. In 2019, Goliath created a groundbreaking installation titled This song is for ... in which she asked rape survivors to perform a song of deep and personal meaning, whether related to their trauma experience or their journey of healing.
This moving work, now being shown in Switzerland for the first time, is a powerful act of remembrance. Through the testimonies of ten individuals, the idea of the dedicatory song shapes it into a reflection on the global severity of sexual violence against women and those who do not conform to gender norms.
In addition, the photo series Berenice will be shown as a premiere at Kunsthaus Baselland. This series of memorial portraits commemorates the absent Berenice, a childhood friend of Goliath's who died as a result of domestic violence. Each of the women photographed in the series represents an unlived year, from the year of Berenice's death until the series was completed in 2010, and Goliath has since decided to revisit the series every ten years. The new portraits, to be completed in 2022, are intended to retain some of the formal qualities of the first series, but also to be open to other approaches that trace what she calls a "life work of mourning." Berenice is a cornerstone of the artist's practice and marks a certain ethical shift toward a community-oriented politics of care.
In a sense, Goliath's work serves as a pedagogical tool to encourage audiences to engage in personal, relational encounters. In a multi-faceted way, it addresses what is undoubtedly an ongoing global crisis of normative violence.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
This moving work, now being shown in Switzerland for the first time, is a powerful act of remembrance. Through the testimonies of ten individuals, the idea of the dedicatory song shapes it into a reflection on the global severity of sexual violence against women and those who do not conform to gender norms.
In addition, the photo series Berenice will be shown as a premiere at Kunsthaus Baselland. This series of memorial portraits commemorates the absent Berenice, a childhood friend of Goliath's who died as a result of domestic violence. Each of the women photographed in the series represents an unlived year, from the year of Berenice's death until the series was completed in 2010, and Goliath has since decided to revisit the series every ten years. The new portraits, to be completed in 2022, are intended to retain some of the formal qualities of the first series, but also to be open to other approaches that trace what she calls a "life work of mourning." Berenice is a cornerstone of the artist's practice and marks a certain ethical shift toward a community-oriented politics of care.
In a sense, Goliath's work serves as a pedagogical tool to encourage audiences to engage in personal, relational encounters. In a multi-faceted way, it addresses what is undoubtedly an ongoing global crisis of normative violence.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
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