Amber Ablett – My Fathers Left (sound installation)

Bergen based artist and writer Amber Ablett presents a new sound installation for Borealis, exploring fatherhood from the perspective of children from the African diaspora. The collaborative research project takes the form of an six channel sound and video installation – a poetic sonic essay and mixtape drawing on a breadth and variety of experiences.

The work begins with the artist’s own exploration into how the narratives that British, Norwegian and Western society has taught us about Black fatherhood shaped and warped the way she saw her relationship with her own father, and the ways in which colourism and internalised racism seep in. Installed in the gallery space USF Visningsrommet, the work sits within a wooden listening structure based on wooden stands used to hold up boats when they are brought onto dry land, connecting these personal stories, back to the stories of fathers that have travelled across seas.

As a Black woman of Irish, Trinidadian and British heritage living in Norway, Amber's work  creates a space for questioning, communality and critical thinking; she is interested in how we learn about ourselves through learning about other people and the conflict between our internal and perceived sense of home.