Ayesha Hameed lives in London, UK. Since 2013, Hameed’s multi-chapter project 'Black Atlantis' has looked at the Black Atlantic and its afterlives in contemporary illegalised migration at sea, oceanic environments, outer space and through Afrofuturistic dancefloors and sound systems.
2021 Biennial Year Find out more
Through videos, audio-essays and performance-lectures, she examines how to think through sound, image, water, violence and history as elements of an active archive; and travelling back in time as a historical method. Recent exhibitions include Gothenburg Biennial, Sweden (2019); Lubumbashi Biennale, Democratic Republic of Congo (2019); and Dakar Biennale, Senegal (2018). She is currently co-programme leader of the PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University of London.
Liverpool Biennial 2021
'I sing of the sea, I am mermaid of the trees'
Ayesha Hameed presented ‘I sing of the sea, I am mermaid of the trees’ (2021), a newly commissioned multichannel audio and textile installation at Lush Building. Hameed’s installation follows the laying down of the first undersea telegraphic cable between India and Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century, that was precipitated by the six week delay for Britain to get news of the outbreak of the Revolt of 1857.
Her installation moves this history underwater, taking us to battles against the forces of the seafloor, through the fragile nervousness of cable signals, and to the forests in Sarawak from where gutta percha was extracted by indigenous peoples to insulate the thousands of miles of undersea cables. ‘I sing of
Ayesha Hameed presented ‘I sing of the sea, I am mermaid of the trees’ (2021), a newly commissioned multichannel audio and textile installation at Lush Building. Hameed’s installation follows the laying down of the first undersea telegraphic cable between India and Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century, that was precipitated by the six week delay for Britain to get news of the outbreak of the Revolt of 1857. Her installation moves this history underwater, taking us to battles against the forces of the seafloor, through the fragile nervousness of cable signals, and to the forests in Sarawak from where gutta percha was extracted by indigenous peoples to insulate the thousands of miles of undersea cables. ‘I sing of the sea’ (2021) considers how communication can act as a kind of violence, transmitted across the seafloor, consolidating Britain’s imperial control over India. If Imperial Britain was the mother country and its colonies its offspring, then the undersea cable was a kind of pathological, strangulating umbilical cord. This is a subaquatic story of those offspring. Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial with support from Canada Council for the Arts and The High Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom. Sound design with Will Saunders.
'I sing of the sea, I am mermaid of the trees'
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Ayesha Hameed, I sing of the sea, I am mermaid of the trees, 2021. Installation view at Lush Building, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby
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Ayesha Hameed, I sing of the sea, I am mermaid of the trees, 2021. Installation view at Lush Building, Liverpool Biennial 2021. Photography: Rob Battersby
Liquid Club #15: Ayesha Hameed
In this one-off event we joined Ayesha Hameed in conversation with MIT Professor of Anthropology, Stefan Helmreich, and Liverpool Biennial Curator, Manuela Moscoso, for an in-depth look at her research-based practice that explores contemporary borders, migration and critical race theory.
Ayesha and Stefan discuss Hameed’s influences in media and sound alongside her newly commissioned audio-visual installation, I sing of the sea, I am mermaid of the trees (2021), that charts the placement of the first undersea telegraphic cable between India and Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century.
As part of Liverpool Biennial 2021, Ayesha Hameed will present a newly commissioned audio-visual installation, with support from Canada Council for the Arts and The High Commission of Canada in the UK, that charts the placement of the first undersea telegraphic cable between India and Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. Ahead of the unveiling of this new project later in the Spring, we invite Ayesha to share examples of her multi-layered work through deep listening and conversation.
In this one-off event join Ayesha in conversation with MIT Professor of Anthropology, Stefan Helmreich, and Liverpool Biennial Curator, Manuela Moscoso, for an in-depth look at her research-based practice that explores contemporary borders, migration and critical race theory.
About the Artist
Ayesha Hameed lives in London, UK. Since 2013, Hameed’s multi-chapter project ‘Black Atlantis’ has looked at the Black Atlantic and its afterlives in contemporary illegalised migration at sea, oceanic environments, outer space and through Afrofuturistic dancefloors and sound systems. Through videos, audio-essays and performance-lectures, she examines how to think through sound, image, water, violence and history as elements of an active archive; and travelling back in time as a historical method. She is currently co-programme leader of the PhD in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University of London.
About the Guest Speakers
Stefan Helmreich is Professor of Anthropology at MIT. His research examines how biologists think through the limits of “life” as a category of analysis. His books include Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas (University of California Press, 2009), a study of marine biologists working in realms usually out of sight and reach: the microscopic world, the deep sea, and oceans outside national sovereignty., and most recently Sounding the Limits of Life: Essays in the Anthropology of Biology and Beyond (Princeton University Press, 2016) which questions the changing definitions of life, water, and sound (and features a soundtrack).