Paul MahekeThe River asked for a Kiss and In The Watery Core of those Stories, 2017
Digitally printed curtains and fish tanks containing various aquatic non-indigenous species of plants
145 x 410 cm
‘The River Asked for a Kiss’ comprises four digitally printed fabric curtains paired with fish tanks containing non‑indigenous aquatic plant species sourced from the Venetian Lagoon. In this work, first shown at the Diaspora Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale, Paul Maheke remembers the suicide of a Gambian refugee in Venice, which was recorded and circulated in the media by onlookers. Maheke pays remembrance to this event through Langston Hugh’s poem, Suide’s Note:
The calm.
Cool face of the river
Asked me for a kiss.
