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Gouled Abdishakour Ahmed is an artist, stylist, costume designer and writer. Their work explores themes of memory, belonging and futurity using self-portraiture and self-fashioning as a tool to challenge traumatic histories and interrogate how structures of power create meaning and ‘othering’ in the Horn of Africa. They collaborated with Asmaa Jama on Before We Disappear (2021), commissioned by BBC Arts, and The Season of Burning Things (2021), commissioned by Bristol Old Vic (2021). Their work has been shown widely at venues such as V&A Museum, London (2022); Alliance Ethio-Francaise, Addis Ababa (2021); and Beursschouwburg, Brussels (2
Except this time nothing returns from the ashes (2024), The Season of Burning Things (2022)
Past and present infuse each other with strange energy across films that capture people and places at the borders of transformation. As the sun sets on ancient ruins a shutter opens and closes, and a light in the distance reflects on the glass of a soldier’s lonely watchtower.
