Awaiting
I am standing by the beach, wearing a traditional Maasai looking garment tailored into western formal dressing;
an amalgamation of two identities intertwined by the painful histories of slavery and colonialism,
like a lighthouse or beacon looking out to sea awaiting the arrival of the strange cargo of Humans or traditions and cultures
or awaiting to become cargo myself.
Clothing as a visual signifier of an acquired or assumed identity, the embodiment of a claimed identity.
Mapping the role of Diasporas, ancient and modern trade routes in that process of metamorphosis.
Commenting on the hybrid nature of what is often mistaken as the pure state of the local.
Exploring diaspora, identity and hybridity.
Victor Mutelekesha is a visual artist based in Oslo and Lusaka
With the financial support and under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture
