Sedje Hémon - Emotion of Spirits

Sedje Hémon (1923-2011) dedicated her life to showing the common origin and intersectionality of all arts and sciences, culminating in the development of a theory for the “integration of the arts.”

Hémon’s multifaceted approach grew out of the urgency of her time and the need for creative expressions that she developed in the face of political ostracization and physical disability. Her lifelong traumas, coupled with her omission from art history, have not altered Hémon’s legacy, which offers tools, compositions, and methodologies for self-determined world-making.

Hémon’s oeuvre showcases inextricable connections between the physical and celestial dimensions that define our common existence.

Sedje Hémon – Emotion of Spirits

Edited by

Amal Alhaag, Aude Christel Mgba, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Gwen Parry, Ibrahim Cissé, Krista Jantowski, Zippora Elders

With editorial support by

Elisa Larkin Nascimento, Elmyra van Dooren, Nighat Mir, Peter Wapperom

Contributions by

Translations by

Goia Mujalli, Jake Schneider, Siji Jabbar, Sita Dickson Littlewood

Copy-editing by

Ibrahim Cissé with additional support from Dieuwertje Hehewerth

Proofreading by

Dieuwertje Hehewerth

Sophie Douala

Typesetting by

Sara Marcon, Archive Books

Printed by

Bianca & Volta, Milan

English

128 pages
15.5 x 23.5 cm

ISBN: 978-3-949973-09-3

Euros 12,50

Initiated by
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung

Abstracting Parables

These readers are published in conjunction with Abstracting Parables (July 1 – October 16, 2022), which consists of an exhibition presented as a triptych and a sonic journey through guides, scripts, rituals, and murmurings. It brings together
the artistic positions of Sedje Hémon (1923-2011), Abdias Nascimento (1914-2011) and Imran Mir (1950-2014).

It is curated by Amal Alhaag and Aude Christel Mgba with the support of Zippora Elders, Krista Jantowski and Stedelijk curator Claire van Els, under the artistic direction of Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung for sonsbeek20→24 and Rein Wolfs for Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

The exhibition is framed within the quadrennial sonsbeek20→24 “Force Times Distance: On Labour and Its Sonic Ecologies,” Arnhem, the Netherlands.

Abstracting Parables is developed in partnership with the Sedje Hémon Foundation, Afro-Brazilian Studies and Research Institute (IPEAFRO) and the Imran Mir Art Foundation. The exhibition is a joint partnership between Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Stichting Sonsbeek.

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