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In these times of terror and destruction, when bodies have become numbers, Raoni/Muzho Saleh (1991) wonders which lives are worthy of being mourned, and which lives are not. How does mourning affect our sense of humanity, and how can we get access to our own feelings of grief? Can we even bear to listen to the moans and lamentations of others if we are not in touch with our own emotions? By means of his performances, workshops, and installations, Saleh wants to encourage moaning. Saleh: ‘Some people find the experience uncomfortable and embarrassing, since moaning is also an erotic thing – but I do want to embrace that aspect as well.’
Saleh’s installation and performance a wind-wept drizzle of grief (2025) is an ode to professional mourners. In various cultures, these people are hired to make the grief and sadness tangible during funerals. The textile draperies in this installation are based on the attire worn by low-caste (Dalit) mourners from the state of Tamil Nadu in the south of India while performing a funereal ritual called oppari. The colours, lines, and folds of their saris betray and influence their actions and body movements. As well as an artist, Saleh is a choreographer whose work is based on the dynamics of the body, and how these dynamics transform the body’s surroundings. Playing in the background of the installation is a mix of poetry and music that Saleh made in collaboration with Alec Mateo. Furthermore, a so-called moan duet will be performed twice a day at Prospects. Ideally, sound, image, and movement will merge while the moan releases an energy that connects all human beings – an aesthetic experience during which emotion and body coincide.
Text: Esther Darley
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)