Looking back at Bona with Nkhensani Mkhari

Nkhensani Mkhari were in Enschede. Curator and artist from South Africa, they were the curator of Misava last year as part of The Overkill. Due to the pandemic they could not make it to Enschede then, but last week, we were really happy to meet them irl and to listen to their stories. They curated a screening night “Bona” with video art from artists from the African diaspora. We cooked together meals from these artists' original countries, we talked about home and the spaces that can become home. Friday Sickhouse was a space to share about dreams, history, Europe, artistic empowerment in decolonisation processes, appropriation, responsibility…

'Bona' is a seTswana word meaning look or see. Curated by Nkhensani Mkhari, the exhibition is staged as a multi-sensory cinematic experience pairing video art pieces from African artists and the diaspora with food and drinks from their native cultures. The autochthonous aesthetics embedded in the corpus of time based works featured in this curatorial staging explore concepts and ideas of migration, heritage, space and ultimately 'home'. This curatorial staging asks questions of liminality in a translocated space of becoming within the diaspora. In essence Bona aims to evoke the atmospheric valances of these 'Home' spaces through the visual field and food; exploring the relations between people and rituals that mediate these connections, and how they gather in dispersion.

The curatorial staging features works by DB Amorin, Ainslee Alem Robson (VR) , Maniel Arturo Abrue, Ketumile Malesa, Magolide Collective and Nkhensani Mkhari.The meals are prepared together with Nkhensani Mkhari at Tankstation and are all vegan.Nkhensani Mkhari will be present to guide us through the evening.