Aliefka

« back to overview

Blog

Archive for 2011

once upon a time

published on: 07.03.2011 in: All entries

Once upon a time, a woman who is tired and weary and looking for broccoli in her local supermarket – not that the kids will ever eat it but she keeps trying – runs into a man. Worse even, she trips and falls against him. He isn’t astonishingly handsome or anything. But his greying hair […]

more

the hospital canteen

published on: 05.03.2011 in: All entries

An older man started crying in the hospital canteen. He tried to stop the tears. His face swelled up, turned purple. Finally, the tears brimmed over and his face deflated as if it was a balloon, and the tears needles. He let out a deep sigh, then sobbed. Now he tried to stop the sobs […]

more

ghanaian tragedy

published on: 27.02.2011 in: All entries

My father had taken me to Elmina Castle on coast of Ghana, quite a few times in my pre-teen years. At the time, most of this Dutch fort was inaccessible and we’d wander around making up the details of the story. Was this narrow window really where all slaves left their captivity in the fort, […]

more

the old woman and the sea

in: All entries

Maybe it was the thrashing of waves against a shore I had spent innumerable days digging my feet and fingers in the sand. A fine sand in blacks and yellows, resembling marble. In a flash, I ran into that turbulent sea, with its strange currents that collide, forming dangerous pools of darkness. And even more […]

more

the mango tree

published on: 22.02.2011 in: All entries

“Okay look. As a kid, I used to always climb mango trees. And we used to not think anything of whatever colour we had. I had never thought of myself as being white until I returned from England. Suddenly people were asking me where I was from. From here. I said. My dad is Ghanaian, […]

more

unchanged miracles and madness

published on: 20.02.2011 in: All entries

Women. We women. Wise and foolish. Strong and weak. We take care of our ailing fathers and our boisterous boys, while man has left us. He tells us he feels guilty because he would have and should have but can't. We are seventeen and excited to meet an artist who makes the things we love […]

more

the insignificant spider

published on: 19.02.2011 in: All entries

Memory works by association, we all know this. Still though, not all associations do what you want them to do with your memory. I find myself sitting in a taxi from Kotoka airport (I had entirely forgotten that name)and not feeling a thing. Ghana now, is Ghana now. Not Ghana then. I am even remembering […]

more

….

published on: 17.02.2011 in: All entries

I watch the pianist, I watch the singer. They are alike. When they lose themselves, and allow the music to absorb them. And for a moment accept the pain that comes with their talent. And they have been humbled into primary beings. And even seem to forget we are watching them. And perhaps unintentionally show […]

more

round and round she twirls

in: All entries

I learned a lot today. Maybe some days are supposed to be about learning while other are about execution. Perhaps learning days take months, even years. I share work space with various artists who work in different disciplines. This morning, one of the women explained how she was unsure about a piece she had made. […]

more

the art of window-dressing

published on: 13.02.2011 in: All entries

They stomped around on stage in scarlet red. The woman, and the man. He was tall and lanky, his hands were too big for his body and obviously this is what a lot of flamenco is about: the hands. His long hair. A delicate man. He annoyed me. Why? Because he wasn’t dancing. He was […]

more