Amber Ablett – Sound Installation My Fathers Left

Amber Ablett – Sound Installation My Fathers Left

Commissioned by

Photo credits Jan Khur

Bergen based artist and writer Amber Ablett presents a new sound installation titled My Fathers Left at Borealis 2024.

The work explores fatherhood from the perspective of children from the African diaspora. The collaborative research project takes the form of a 6-channel sound and video installation – a poetic sonic essay and mixtape drawing on a breadth and variety of experiences.

The work begins with the artist’s own exploration into how the narratives that British, Norwegian and Western society has taught us about Black fatherhood shaped and warped the way she saw her relationship with her own father, and the ways in which colourism and internalised racism seep in. Installed in the gallery space USF Visningsrommet, the work sits within a wooden listening structure based on wooden stands used to hold up boats when they are brought onto dry land, connecting these personal stories, back to the stories of fathers that have travelled across seas.

As a Black woman of Irish, Trinidadian and British heritage living in Norway, Amber’s work  creates a space for questioning, communality and critical thinking; she is interested in how we learn about ourselves through learning about other people and the conflict between our internal and perceived sense of home.

Commissioned and presented by Borealis Festival in collaboration with BEK – Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts.
World premiere: Borealis Festival 2024
Supported by Arts and Culture Norway, The Audio and Visual Fund & City of Bergen.
Part of New Perspectives for Action –a project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union.

 

Year
2024
Location
Bergen (NO)