As an artist and researcher, Kathleen Bomani’s work explores the interconnectedness of erasure and memory in the context of the enduring ramifications of colonialism. In 2015, Bomani initiated World War I in Africa, a citizen-led, grassroots initiative that pushed back against the erasure of Africa’s role during the First World War. As a continuation of this research interest, the work The Fire Last Time (2026) avoids a retelling of the story of the war. Instead, it develops a conceptual and sensorial map that brings together human and more-than human witnesses; landscapes, plants, infrastructures, and oral histories that foreground endurance rather than heroism, and survival rather than conquest. In doing so, The Fire Last Time reframes the First World War not as an isolated European conflict, but as part of a continuum of colonial violence whose effects continue to structure the present.

Commissioned by Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), produced by Kathleen Bomani and Goethe-Institut Tansania, in collaboration with HKW, 2026. The artist would like to thank the Gwaertler Stiftung for their kind support of the research of this project.

Work in the exhibition: The Fire Last Time (2026), 1-channel video, sound, colour, 36' , English with Ger subs. Written and Directed by Kathleen Bomani; Director of Photography Enos Olik; Edited by Michail Stangl and Kathleen Bomani; Original Score by Gugulethu ‘Dumama’ Duma and Kathleen Bomani; Camera Assistant and Drone Operator Staford Kihore; Post Production and Sound Supervisor Michail Stangl; Associate Producer Aishi Mengi. Courtesy of the artist