Aberash | አበራሽ | You Give Light
The first iteration of the light sculptures was titled Aber ash: You Give Light, named after her mother’s sister, and was on view as a part of the group exhibition Familiar Boundaries, Infinite Possibilities curated by Kilolo Luckett.
The performance involved reading the sculpture guide outloud, in spired by Christina Sharpe’s In the Wake: On Blackness & Being, hence the word SHIP taped on each of the performers foreheads, as well as Kimberle Crenshaw’s Say Her Name and a document by UNITED Inter cultural Action that lists 30,000+ migrants who have died traveling to Europe.
The guide, based on the sculpture, included Aiyana Stanley-Jones who was murdered by police in Detroit, Michigan at the age of seven, her name means ‘beautiful flower, eternal blossom, a good path and divine spirit’. Then each light cube alternates between women, such as Senait Tadesse, a 19 year old Eritrean woman who strangled her baby and hanged herself in Eckolstädt asylum centre on April 20, 2018; reminiscent of Margaret Garner, the inspiration for Toni Morri-son’s award winning novel Beloved, who killed her daughter rather than allowing the child to be returned to slavery in 1856 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The objects used during the performance included Makonnen’s hand printed Ethiopian scarves, a traditional royal cape that she had cus tom-made during her last trip to Addis Ababa and a white dress, worn by the artist, in which she attached the laser cut mirror pieces from the sculpture to. Essentially wearing the negative space of the light sculp ture, further embodying the women the work is based on.