Exploring conversations around language and text in contemporary art practice, this exhibition seeks to deconstruct the ways in which we convey personal and geographical histories throughout the African continent. The title V E R S E speaks to two literary terms, one the poetic, a space for language to speak in a metaphorical and nuanced manner and the other speaks of a biblical sense, in which throughout the African continent much of the language we have been provided has come from the colonizing west, this speaks of the more critical sense, and explores works that deny the western structure of narrative and instead examines alternate methods of employing our own definitions of what the telling of culture and history on the continent look like, no longer imagined but carving a new identity, these could look like love letters, performances, video art, installations.

Selling the Sun (2021) is an installation consisting of reconfigured tourist brochures, the kind which would often find seen in a large stand at the airport or local backpackers. Many of these mass-produced brochures often advertise some kind of an experience and a good time. In order to subvert this culture and critically look at the “experience” which is being sold to tourists, I used concepts and found text pieces based on a collection of critical texts by African writers and have placed these as the new version of my tourist “experience” guide. The works sit as an essay, a mind map, a library of sorts. The brochures provide an alternative means of sharing and gaining knowledge and looking at the history of Africa in a new perspective.

Where the Sun Sets (2021) provocatively examines the romanticized perception of Africa by adopting a critical approach of the viewers gaze. The gallery's window facade is veiled with hues of orange and yellow, reflecting the tones of the evening sunset. The tinted windows, reflecting ever-changing patterns onto the gallery floors, create a captivating and romantically charged ambiance throughout the space. The artwork looks at the Western perspective to view Africa through "rose-tinted glasses." By employing this metaphorical filter, the installation draws attention to how observers often choose to bask in the grandeur and opulence that is presented, rather than critically engaging with the contested history and complex narratives of the continent.