Tuli Mekondjo is included in Messaggere at Museo Novecento, Florence, Through 8 June 2025.
Tuli Mekondjo presents a powerful body of work in ‘Messaggere’, a five-person exhibition spanning the ground floor of Museo Novecento, Florence, exploring the spiritual and emotional dimensions of contemporary practice.
Created during her 2024 residency at Villa Romana in Florence, Mekondjo’s contribution includes tapestries and copper sculptures that confront the history and legacy of the Herero and Nama genocide during the German occupation of Namibia (1884–1915). Drawing from archival material, the artist reflects on the intertwined lives of Namibian and Italian contract workers who built the German railway system between 1904 and 1925.
Mekondjo’s works trace personal and collective memory, revealing the violence of displacement and the enduring scars of colonisation. The museum is also showing her video work Kalunga Ka Nangobe, a performance juxtaposing the ancestral beliefs of the Ovambo people with the Christian imagery imposed by European missionaries.
April 21, 2025
