Concept:
The following text was part of a flyer in both German and English for the performance audience in Bremen. Whoever showed an interest or had a question was also given this by gallery assistants. Kyambi did not speak during the performance but addressed all questions at the artist talk the following day.
"It is important to present my work to you in a public way, to do this walk between the Übersee-Museum, through Doms hof via the Böttcher street to the Bremen City Gallery connecting with the ground, interrupting our everyday movements in the hopes of creating a moment to ask you to think about our collective history, specifically Bremen’s history with Namibia and how the colonial condition is present in our lives yet not deeply explored in educational and social forums. My art often asks how we are personally contributing to situations and my work is demanding of the audience to see themselves in the ‘other’ and to recognize the struggle in this process.
The dress I’m wearing is a national Herero Day dress worn in Namibia in commemoration of the Herero/ Namaqua genocide and those who fought for the rights of the Namibian people a country which gained its independence in 1990. The veil that follows the dress that I drag through the streets of Bremen include excerpts of letters and records from Chief Witbooi (c.1830 – 29 October 1905 one of nine national heroes of Namibia) and letters from German administrators engaging chiefs from different areas, constitutional resolutions, photographs from the Mohamed Amin Foundation of historical spaces in Namibia. History is a long and layered narrative, and my work is only a moment, a moment asking for reflection. My performative action is a highlighter, marking some narratives, instigating operations of repair, through acknowledgment, through the sharing of knowledge and through the act of being present."
