mawu lisa project
mawu lisa project
In MAWU LISA, we aim to tell a story in afro futurist aesthetic and science fiction tradition, that makes the tale of the deity MAWU LISA tangible and relatable again – as it is an almost forgotten tale, and one that has been barely known and heard of in north-western spheres of arts and culture. As afro-german artists, Zoe and I are constantly confronted with the lack of celebrated and practiced Black History in Germany, and are deeply aware of the issues that can stem from this lack in terms of identity. It is very important for us to create this piece in a well-researched way. Therefore, we successfully applied for research travel funds, to get a better understanding and knowledge of West African originated spirituality and Vodún/Voudou practices.
In January 2025, both of us will be traveling to Benin, West Africa – to attend the biggest Vodún festival in the country on January 10th – in cooperation and with supervision of our Benin based cooperation partner – L’Ensemble Artistique et Culturel TOWARA.
In addition to that, we also just received the confirmation to be able to travel to New Orleans, LA, USA. As we are planning and mapping out the trip – I was wondering if there are any ways in which Zoe and I could cooperate or be supported by any Institutions / Universities / Museums etc. in New Orleans.
We would be super interested in having the chance to be connected with local artists who may have worked on or with the topics of Vodún/Voudou practice, pan African identity and Black storytelling to get the chance to exchange.
We would be open and thankful of all kinds of forms of a possible exchange like this – may it be panel talks, workshops or else and also of course contribute and partake in anything that could create exchange for artist communities ourselves.
It would be very interesting for us to know if artist housing and/ or accommodation exists and is available for us through a possible cooperation with a New Orleans based Institution. We would be incredibly thankful and happy to learn about the possibilities of artist accommodation with institutions. It would also be very interesting for us to know if there are any infrastructures in New Orleans for short term artist housing. Our stay is planned for approx. 10 days in March and travel costs are already covered by our funding. If there is infrastructure for spaces that we could use to meet and interview possible scholars and experts, that would also be amazing.
We are open and happy to offer workshops and talks ourselves, if there are any topics of our expertise that could be interesting for the Amistad Research Center or the local (dance) community.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, we are more than happy to get in touch, find time for a zoom call or exchange further about a possible cooperation.
Find attached our Biographies and previous work, as well as more en – detail information about the MAWU LISA project and of course copies of the confirmations of the cooperation partners we already have for this project.
Thank you for taking the time to take all of this information in.
With kind regards