“We are not separated by the sea, we are connected by it” - Shiraz Bayjoo in interview with Komplex Culture Magazin

"When visiting a historical museum, an archive or an art collection, did you ever question the power structures behind the exhibited objects? – Who is collecting and what is made visible? What kind of history is narrated? Which parts might be missing? Currently, the contemporary art exhibition Archives of Resistance and Repair is on view at Neue Galerie Innsbruck (extended until March 26th, 2022). It shows works by Maeve Brennan, Onyeka Igwe and Shiraz Bayjoo, which are focusing on hidden power dynamics that exist within archives. In their works, the artists reconsider the meaning and function of historical records from a decolonial perspective, making visible that archives are not neutral collections and sources of information. Historically, they have functioned as tools for powerful institutions to shape ideology, to maintain power relations and to narrate history in a certain way. "