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Anawana Haloba

Anawana Haloba (b. 1978) is an artist based in Oslo and Livingstone, currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Bergen. She explores the positions of different societies within varied political, social, economic and cultural contexts, ideological and post-independence framework. Haloba’s artworks begin as drafts of poetry in the form of sketches which are then used to create performative art through video, installation, and sound. 

Credit: B&W portrait of Anawana Haloba. Credit - Sello Majara

Haloba has been featured in solo and group exhibitions including at Centre Pompidou, National Museum of African Arts (Smithsonian), la Biennale di Venezia, 2009, and the Sharjah Biennial 08, 11 and 14th editions. She is an associate professor at Oslo National Academy of the Arts and a guest advisor at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam and co-founder of the Livingstone Office for Contemporary Arts (LoCA), a platform for exploring colonial and political histories in relation to language and contemporary art. 

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Coloured bowls on the gallery floor are positioned to collect water dripping from roughly cut pieces of salt suspended in nets above.
A roughly cut piece of salt is suspended in a net high above the ground, with a water droplet poised to fall from it.
On a raised wooden platform, four sculptures are arranged. In the foreground is a circular sculpture on a stool, while three additional sculptures are positioned in the background. This setup is part of an experimental opera where the sculptures produce opera music.
A raised circular wooden platform features sculptures that are part of an experimental opera. The sculptures play opera music, and chairs are arranged around the platform for visitors to experience the installation.
On a raised wooden platform, three sculptures are displayed as part of an experimental opera installation. The sculptures emit opera music, and surrounding the platform are chairs for viewers to sit and experience the piece.
In a grey gallery room, two stools are placed on the floor. Two poles extend from the walls, each supporting a circular bowl-like object. These bowls are positioned so that a person sitting on a stool can either speak into or listen through them.
A still from a video shows the artist Aanawana Haloba with her face down, using her tongue to draw a map on a pile of salt.
In a gallery room, three TVs are displayed on plinths against a dark grey wall. On another wall, circular illuminated objects are attached. In the centre of the room, a long sculpture is elevated on two plinths.
Anawana Haloba
In a darkened room, four similar circular sculptures are illuminated. On top of one, you can see a circular screen on top playing a video.
Two people enter a darkened room through a curtain, where they find four illuminated sculptures that are identical.
Anawana Haloba