How does your environment influence who you are allowed to be?
Sunni Lamin Barrow takes you back to his childhood and shares the stories and poems he created about that time, influenced by the fear of punishment and exclusion that exist on LGBTQ+ expression in his motherland.
A Fist of Tongues is a poetic performance in which Sunni explores the different stages of his life since he fled from Gambia. In this performance, in which storytelling merges with visuals, sound design and dance, Sunni testifies about what it is like to live as an African queer person, and about the decisive influence parents can have on how you develop.
“This skin limits me
The smiles on my face are wounds of things I cannot yet speak about
And I do not want to be remembered for my tears, the beauty of this poem
Is of the ugly I have lived, I am the origin of the others that came before me.” (A Fist of Tongues)
“This personal story by Sunni Lamin Barrow is one that gets under your skin because it gives you an unfiltered glimpse into the life of someone who decides to flee. Moreover, Sunni -as a poet- chooses his words so carefully that it seems as if the story unrolls before you like a song.” – Gregory | curator Jonge Harten
Stay with the trouble