River that never rests by artist Ashanti Hare

About

Hare’s research into the minkisi or power bundles from the Congo in RAMM’s World Culture collections inspired their new commission for RAMM.  

Their filmed performance explores the River Exe as sentient. Hare describes it ‘as the watcher who connects the physical with documented histories of Exeter and the wider south west; other worlds; the many oral histories of global majority people and wildlife that travel to and through it’.   

Hare’s research into both the African origins of Vodou and Vodon practices and water gods in a range of African and Norse mythologies reveal water as a bridge between worlds. In these narratives, water represents the cyclical nature of grief; death and rebirth; joy and celebration. For Hare, water also becomes a ‘symbol for the transatlantic slave trade’.   

The cased display in the courtyard shows objects used by Ashanti Hare in their performance alongside nkisi from the museum’s collection. 

Location: Courtyard wall