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Hasani Sahlehe
Hasani Sahlehe
What a Kallaloo
August 25, 2018 – October 21, 2018
I heard that it would make you strong, they convinced me that is was good for you, some said that it could bring you good favor in the new year. Either way, a huge pot of it would be on the stove leading up to Old Year’s Night. Like clockwork, relatives would blow up the phone lines in order to have their share delivered, stored, or shipped. I, on the other hand, was not impressed. I preferred a McDonald’s Happy Meal, at least that came with a toy.
The leaf based stew known as Kallaloo, (or Callaloo) is a staple throughout many Caribbean countries. The delicacy is known by a plethora of names and appears in various forms. The dish often incorporates a mix of vegetables paired with meats, seafood, or both. While a true recipe is elusive, most are certain that its roots trace back to West Africa.
“What a Kallaloo” is an exploration of postcolonialism through the lens of West Indian cuisine. It contemplates notions of authorship, assimilation, and improvisation.
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Bio
Hasani Sahlehe
Hasani Sahlehe was born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The Atlanta-based artist employs color and material to engage the viewer spiritually, cognitively, and emotionally. Sahlehe’s practice comprises a syncretic visual language that references music, lived experience, and the history of painting. His luminous palette and lyrical compositions often abstract environmental phenomena and distill into vibrant fields of color. Sahlehe contemplates parallels between humanity and the physical and conceptual malleability of paint by incorporating a variety of painting approaches ranging from airbrush to pours of thick resin-like acrylic gel medium. Sahlehe likens paint’s ability to exist in various states of matter to the way that humanness is at once tactile and intangible. Sahlehe has had solo shows at the Atlanta Contemporary, SCAD Museum of Art, 106 Green (New York), Resort (Baltimore), 12.26 (Dallas), MINT (Atlanta), and Westobou (Augusta, GA). Recent press include ArtMaze Magazine, Bmore Art, Burnaway, Savannah Magazine, Art Papers, and New American Paintings.