Julianknxx’s work traverses geographies, languages, and gestures, building an archive in transit where each voice resonates as part of a large choir. His work draws directly from the cultural roots of West Africa, especially Sierra Leone, where the artist comes from. In his films, installations, and performances, the artist does not seek out a single testimony, but a fabric of memories and presences that escape colonial narratives. Julianknxx is as interested in the history of the world as he is in the everyday history of the people who comprise it. The choir, the spoken word, the performance that becomes matter—the artist understands music as resistance, but also as a trace of something greater: the sound of those who have never stopped moving. Writing poems is a fundamental part of his creative process, a tool that not only underpins his work, but the way he articulates his experiences and observes the realities of the world, transforming fragments of memory into new forms of resistance. His practice challenges the hierarchies of the Western archive by proposing radical listening. What matters is not only what is said, but also the silence that warns. At the crossroads of art and politics, his images and sounds are a reminder that stories were never just the colonial narratives told—they are also what gets sung, even when no one seems to be listening.

WORK IN THE EXHIBITION:

18 what colours can we dream in this night filled with salt? (2025), video, 11 07＂, choir: Boras Choir, dancer: Dorothee Munyaneza. Courtesy of the artist. Developed during the LUMA Arles Residency Program, commissioned by Fundacao Bienal de Sao Paulo for the 36th Bienal, adapted for Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)