IMAMOU Exhibition

The exhibition curated in collaboration with Afrinova director Keabetswe Boccomino reflects on the themes and topics covered in the literary module by award-winning Haitian author and senior fellow Kettly Mars.

To accompany Mars’ module on Haitian literature, arts and spiritualities the IMAMOU explores the role of water as a symbol of liberation and empowerment throughout Haiti’s historical and contemporary contexts.

Taking the mystical boat IMAMOU as a starting point, this exhibition looks at the artistic and literary expressions of Haitian spiritualities linked to the sea, departure, navigation and (re)beginning. What stories do the waters tell? What images, texts and rituals enable Haitians to (re)connect with ancestors and with nature, to heal the individual and collective traumas of past colonial violence, and to cope with everyday demands such as political instability, the movement of land and bodies, and the effects of global warming that are transforming the maritime ecosystem?

Exhibiting Artists: Laura Arminda Kingsley, Sasha Huber and Tessa Mars.