About
ASC Window Space presents Appau Jnr Boakye-Yiadom's photographic installation:
Wild Men
by Renato Rosaldo
A Filipino from the mountains
and I decide to call each other brother.
He asks how I can ask if he's taken a human head.
He's fed me, held my hand on treacherous trails.
I apologize, he's right, never believe war stories.
He pauses and recalls long ago, the time of the Japanese.
Yes, they beheaded some stragglers, helping us medikano.
Downstream, he reveals more recent deeds,
pointing to the house where he took a head, he says,
"Family deaths cling to me like vines to a tree.
Grief slows my steps, bleaches my cheeks.
Throwing away the victim's head
rids me of rage." I'm silent.
Full poem on essay: âOf Headhunters and Soldiers: Separating Cultural and Ethical Relativism'
b.London, lives and works in London. Boakye-Yiadom completed his Post -Grad Diploma at Royal Academy Schools in 2008. Previous solo exhibitions include Misguided Warrior, Squid & Tabernacle, London, and Backwash, Primo Alonso Gallery, London. Selected group exhibitions include Restrike, Poppy Sebire Gallery, London. This is England, Uno & Uno, Milan, Like Love Part One & Two, The Bluecoats, Liverpool.
