GIVE ME BACK MY BLACK DOLLS
SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE
June 3 - August 29, 2027
Frankfurt, Germany
The German-Ghanaian artist Zohra Opoku (b. 1976) explores identity, memory, and belonging and builds bridges between cultures, geographic locations, and times. Printed textiles and sewn fabrics in combination with personal photographs and objects form the central media of her visual narrative, which is fed by the diversity of her cultural roots and her commitment within local communities. Current works from Opoku’s series Give Me Back My Black Dolls form the main focus of her presentation in the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. The title is derived from a poem by the French-Guianan philosopher Léon-Gontran Damas (1912–1978) on the painful loss of his own Black and African identity. Opoku’s works make reference to her biography—her childhood in East Germany and her life between Germany and Ghana—in a dialog with research and workshops with children on their perception of form and the design of dolls. The first institutional solo exhibition of the artist in Germany links the present influence of Western-influenced media, consumer goods, and ideals of beauty on the self-awareness of children (in West Africa and beyond) and opens up new perspectives of individual history and cultural heritage. The works explore origin and alienation, familiarity and foreignness.
Curated by Katharina Dohm