Talk and Performance: SHIRAZ BAYJOO . FREYA TEWELDE . KUAMEN

Join us at the ERL Gallery (Liverpool) on Wednesday 4 June, 18.00-20.00 for an evening of Afro Diasporic culture with a conversation between artists Shiraz Bayjoo, Freya Tewelde and curator Christine Eyene, and a newly commissioned performance by poet, rapper, and multidisciplinary artist Kuamen.

On the occasion of the Liverpool Biennial 2025, the Exhibition Research Lab is pleased announce an evening talk with British artists Shiraz Bayjoo and Freya Tewelde in conversation with curator Christine Eyene, followed by a performance by French poet, rapper, and multidisciplinary artist Kuamen.

Shiraz Bayjoo and Freya Tewelde will discuss their works presented in the exhibition What the Mountain Has Seen, curated by Christine Eyene, addressing the memory of the land in African forests, forms of extractions in the Global South, and their links to unknown chapters of colonial histories embedded within Liverpool.

Shiraz Bayjoo will introduce his fabric based sculptural installation Pu Travers Sa Dilo (2022), To cross this water in Mauritian Creole. This work features archival images of Creole musicians, Swahili dhows, illustrations of early European expeditions on the east African coast, and captured slave ships, composed alongside photographs of maroon forests, indigenous trees, and the swell of the Indian Ocean, all observed from different locations around the region.

Freya Tewelde will take us through the sonic with her Roots of Resonance: The Baobab Tree Project (2022-2023) exploring the deep connection between the baobab tree, cowhide, and the cultural importance of sound and vibration – inspired by the myth of the Negarit drum. More than an instrument, the drum is the heartbeat of communities, essential for communication, celebration, and healing.

Kuamen’s performance I have also seen (2025) is a new creation responding to the exhibition through a visceral exploration of memory, trauma, and resilience. Wearing a mask that fuses elements of his Congolese and Mauritian heritage, the artist will confront the layered histories of colonial extraction, forced labour, and cultural erasure rooted in places like Lolodorf (Cameroon), a land once traversed by missionaries, mapped by Empire, and marked by silence. More than a performance, this is an offering: a poetic reckoning with what has been stolen, what remains unspoken, and what must be seen, felt, and remembered.

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Biographies

Shiraz Bayjoo is a contemporary multi-disciplinary artist who works with film, painting, photography, performance, and installation. His research-based practice focuses on personal and public archives addressing cultural memory and postcolonial nationhood in a manner that challenges dominant cultural narratives.

Bayjoo has exhibited with the Gropius Bau, Berlin; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Kunstal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen; Institute of International Visual Arts, London; New Art Exchange, Nottingham; 5th Edition Dhaka Art Summit; 14th Biennale of Sharjah; 13th Biennale of Dakar; and 21st Biennale of Sydney. Bayjoo is a recipient of the Gasworks Fellowship, and was commissioned for Art Night, London 2019. He was an artist in residence at the Delfina Foundation in 2021 and was awarded the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.

He presented a solo exhibition at the Diaspora Pavilion for the 59th Venice Biennial in 2022, and the 15th edition of Sharjah Biennial 2023. For the 8th edition of Colomboscope in 2024, he presented newly commissioned works supported by the British Council.

Freya Tewelde is a London-based interdisciplinary artist and educator. Born in Asmara, Eritrea, and raised in Saudi Arabia, she has a background in social science and fine art. She holds an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts. Her work explores the psychological, spiritual, and socio-political dimensions of human experience.

Rooted in exploring liminal spaces—personal, collective, and environmental—her practice draws on cosmological symbolism, embodied memory, and diasporic experience to create immersive, contemplative works. Working across painting, video performance, sound, and mixed media, she often weaves together archival photographs, language, and raw pigment to build layered, expansive compositions. 

Guided by a decolonial and socially engaged ethos, her practice opens space for healing, reflection, and reimagining—inviting viewers into realms where the material, spiritual, and symbolic converge.

Kuamen is a French musician, poet, slammer, rapper, and multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation, and performance. His work explores the history of the African diaspora from an Afro-European perspective, with the aim of highlighting its cultural contribution and denounce persisting forms of injustice. Through a variety of cultural references, and the use of diverse mediums, Kuamen questions the notions of identity, territory, integration, and acculturation.

Born in London to a Congolese father and a Mauritian mother, he has lived in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris, for over 25 years. His origins and place of residence force him to confront social phenomena such as racism, poverty, segregation, and overconsumption from a very early age.

As a visual artist, he has mostly exhibited between France and Los Angeles. Some of his projects and collaborations include a residency and performance at Newcastle Contemporary Art (2023) and Drawing Together 201 Exquisite Corpses curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist (2022).

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This event is organised by the Exhibition Research Lab and is supported by IAT – The Institute of Art and Technology, Liverpool School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores University. Kuamen’s newly commissioned performance is supported by Lubaina Himid Projects.

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Talk and Performance: SHIRAZ BAYJOO . FREYA TEWELDE . KUAMEN
Wednesday 4 June, 18.00-20.00

Free event, open to all.
Book your place here

Exhibition Research Lab (ERL) Gallery
John Lennon Art and Design Building
Liverpool John Moores University
2 Duckinfield Street
Liverpool L3 5RD
http://www.exhibition-research-lab.co.uk
info@exhibition-research-lab.co.uk

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