ILANA HARRIS-BABOU REINES VERGNÜGEN - Kunsthaus Hamburg

ILANA
HARRIS-BABOU

                  REINES VERGNÜGEN
                WHOLESOME FUN

2. Oktober–28. November 2021
       2 October–28 November 2021
 KUNSTHAUS HAMBURG

In ihren Videoarbeiten, Collagen und         Ilana Harris-Babou (*1991, Brooklyn,
Skulpturen vereint Ilana Harris-Babou        NY ) hat in den USA und Europa aus-
Humor mit scharfer Gesellschaftskritik       gestellt, zuletzt in Einzelausstellungen
und nimmt damit eine künstlerische           im ICA@UTC (Chattanooga), Jacob
Position ein, der es gelingt, rassistische   Lawrence Gallery (Seattle), The Muse-
Strukturen und soziale Differenzen           um of Arts & Design und HESSE FLA-
im Spiegel der westlich-hegemonialen         TOW (New York). Weitere Ausstellungs-
Konsum- und Medienkultur sichtbar            orte sind das CCA Wattis Institute (San
zu machen.                                   Francisco), das Queens Museum (New
     Dabei bedient sie sich der Sprache      York), die Istanbul Design Biennale
populärer Werbeformate auf Youtube           (Istanbul), die Kunsthal Charlottenborg
und Instagram, in denen sowohl Fir-          (Kopenhagen), die Whitney Biennale
men ihr Marken-Image entwerfen               (New York), das Jewish Museum, das
als auch eine vornehmlich jüngere            SculptureCenter und das Studio Muse-
Generation ihren Warenkonsum als             um in Harlem. Sie hat Bildenden Kunst
Lifestyle im Alltag, beim Kochen oder        an der Columbia University sowie der
beim Heimwerken für die Kamera               Yale University studiert.
inszeniert. Hierin wird die Selbster-
mächtigung der Do-It-Yourself-Idee
zum Paradigma der Selbstoptimierung,
die neben praktischen Alltagstipps
vor allem Effizienz, Performance und
einen vermeintlich guten Geschmack
propagiert. Die Absurdität dysfunktio-
naler – häufig getöpferter – Haushalts-
utensilien und die selbstironische
Performance der Künstlerin (zuweilen
in Kooperation mit ihrer Mutter) persi-
flieren die Logik eines moralisch und
ästhetisch optimierten Lifestyles.
     Über den amerikanischen Kontext
hinaus lassen sich in den Arbeiten
allerdings auch viele Parallelen zu
europäischen Verhältnissen finden,
in welchen sowohl struktureller Ras-
sismus als auch Privilegien einzelner
Gesellschaftsgruppen im Alltag tief
verankert sind.

Kuratorin: Katja Schroeder

In her video works, collages, and sculp-    Ilana Harris-Babou (*1991, Brooklyn,
tures, Ilana Harris-Babou combines          NY ) has exhibited throughout the US
humor and a keen critique of society,       and Europe, with recent solo exhibi-
revealing racist structures and social      tions at ICA@UTC (Chattanooga), Jacob
discrepancies in the mirror of western      Lawrence Gallery (Seattle), The Muse-
hegemonic consumer and media cul-           um of Arts & Design and HESSE FLA-
ture.                                       TOW (New York). Other venues include
     In this context, she adopts the lan-   CCA Wattis Institute (San Francisco),
guage of popular advertising formats        Queens Museum (New York), Istanbul
on Youtube and Instagram, in which          Design Biennial (Istanbul), Kunsthal
companies develop their brand image         Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), Whit-
and mostly members of the younger           ney Biennial (New York) the Jewish
generation enact their consumerism          Museum, SculptureCenter, the Studio
as a lifestyle in the everyday sphere,      Museum in Harlem. She studied Visual
capturing their cooking or DIY activi-      Art at Columbia University as well as
ties on camera. Here, the self-empow-       at Yale University.
erment of the Do-It-Yourself concept
becomes a paradigm of self-optimiza-
tion, propagating efficiency, perfor-
mance, and would-be good taste in
addition to practical tips. The absurdity
of dysfunctional household utensils,
often made of pottery, and her self-
ironic performances (sometimes in
collaboration with her mother) mock
the logic of a morally and aesthetically
optimized lifestyle.
     Beyond the American context,
however, many parallels can be found
in the artist’s works to European condi-
tions, in which both structural racism
and the privileges of individual social
groups are deeply anchored in every-
day life.

Curator: Katja Schroeder

Decision Fatigue                  [2020]
Mixed-media Installation, HD Video, 8:33 min.

In Decision Fatigue (2020) thematisiert         In Decision Fatigue (2020), Ilana Har-
Harris-Babou den Boom der Wellness-             ris-Babou addresses the boom of the
Industrie und ihre Heilsversprechen             wellness industry and its promises
und hinterfragt eine Welt, in der struk-        of salvation, questioning a world
turelles Versagen oft als persönliche           in which structural failure is often
Entscheidungsfreiheit dargestellt wird.         framed as a personal freedom of
In Bezug auf das Konsumverhalten                choice. In reference to privileged con-
privilegierter Käuferschichten persif-          sumer demographics, Harris-Babou’s
lieren ihre Videos in Form von Do-it-           videos deride aspirational lifestyle
Yourself-Tutorials oder Markenwer-              trends, adopting the formats of
bung den Trend zur Selbstoptimierung.           Do-it-Yourself-tutorials or brand pro-
Ironisch formuliert die Arbeit eine             motion. With irony, the work formu-
beißende Kritik an der Absurdität von           lates a biting critique of the absurdity
Gesundheits- und Schönheitsstan-                of health and beauty standards, for
dards, für die vielen Menschen aller-           which many people, however, lack both
dings sowohl die Mittel als auch die            means and time.
Zeit fehlen.                                         In Decision Fatigue the artist’s
     In Decision Fatigue inszeniert             mother, Sheila Harris, stages an inti-
Sheila Harris, die Mutter der Künstle-          mate, absurd, in places painful make-
rin, ein intimes, absurdes, stellenweise        up tutorial, tracing the choices she
schmerzhaftes Make-up-Tutorial.                 has made in her life, both large and
Darin zeichnet sie selbstironisch die           small, to hold onto youth and remain
großen und kleinen Entscheidungen               well. For example, she presents her
eines Lebens nach, das der Prämisse             daily beauty routine for a lifestyle that
folgt, jung und fit zu bleiben. So prä-         doesn’t allow for breastfeeding, or a
sentiert sie die tägliche Schönheits-           makeup tutorial for the preparation
pflege für einen Lebensstil, in dem             of a TV dinner. While using junk food
Stillen keinen Platz hat oder eine              as ingredients for her beauty routines,
Makeup-Anleitung zur Vorbereitung               she plays on terms like clean eating
auf ein Abendessen vor dem Fernseher.           and minimalist lifestyle.
Spielerisch verwendet sie Begriffe
wie clean eating [gesunde Ernährung]
und minimalist lifestyle [minimalisti-
scher Lebensstil] während sie ihrer
Schönheitspflege aus Junkfood prä-
pariert.

Videostills (Decision Fatigue)

Videostills (Finishing a Raw Basement)

Finishing a Raw Basement                  [2017]
4K Video, 6:41 min.

„Die Werkzeuge des Herrn werden          verwickeln. Auch der Humor funktio-
niemals das Haus des Herrn nieder-       niert auf dieselbe Weise; er ist der
reißen.“ – Audre Lorde                   sanfte Bote für die eigentliche Brisanz
                                         der Botschaft.
In Finishing a Raw Basement (2017)            In Finishing a Raw Basement wird
nehmen Ilana Harris-Babou und ihre       über Reparationen gesprochen. Ein
Mutter das Format der Heimwerker-        Begriff, der die gleichen sprachlichen
sendung als Vorlage für ein Kurzvideo    Wurzeln wie „Reparatur“ hat und
über handwerkliche Ambitionen für        den Akt des Reparierens oder Wieder-
eine zeitgemäße Innenraumgestal-         gutmachens – meist durch einen Ag-
tung. Wie auch in anderen Arbeiten       gressor nach einem Krieg – bezeichnet.
der Künstlerin behandelt das Video,      Die beiden Bauherrinnen führen das
Themen wie Schuld und Wiedergut-         Kellergeschoss vor, beschreiben seine
machung sowie die Idee des amerika-      Vorzüge („modernes, offenes Konzept,
nischen Traums. Letztere folgt der       rustikale Anmutung“) und weisen auf
Vorstellung, dass jede*r durch harte     seine Probleme hin („Sehen Sie das?
Arbeit und Ausdauer erfolgreich wer-     Ich sehe das. Ja, das sehe ich auch.“) und
den kann. Voraussetzung dafür ist al-    stellen fest, wie viel Arbeit noch bevor-
lerdings ein Gesellschaftssystem, dass   steht. Was bedeutet es, etwas zu repa-
für alle gleichermaßen funktioniert.     rieren? Es heißt, das, was kaputt ist,
     Der amerikanische Traum ist der     wiederherzustellen, es in einen frühe-
Inbegriff von Leistungsfähigkeit. Die    ren „heilen“ Zustand zu versetzen. Es
Heimwerkersendung und ihre Allge-        bedeutet, einen Mangel auszugleichen,
genwart steht paradigmatisch als idea-   zu kompensieren oder zu beheben.
les Sinnbild für die Verwirklichung      Aber wie oft ist eine Reparatur erfolg-
dieses Traums im Eigenheim. Aller-       reich und vollständig genug, um die
dings gründet diese Vorstellung auf      Erinnerung an das, was kaputt war, zu
einem systemischen Rassismus, der        löschen? Die Werkzeuge mit denen
als Werkzeug und Material für das        bei Harris-Babou repariert wird, sind
„Haus des Meisters“ dient. Wenn es in    kaputt, es sind dysfunktionale Objekte.
Ilana Harris-Babous Werk Absurdität      Der Keramikhammer zerbricht an ei-
gibt, dann deshalb, weil unsere Welt     nem Nagel. Der freigelegte Ziegelstein
und ihre Grundlagen absurd sind.         ist nur rot angemalt. Das Werkzeug
Die Künstlerin und ihre Mutter spielen   wird dem Ausmaß des grundlegenden
„Bauherrinnen“, die einen anderen        Schadens niemals gerecht werden.
erfolgreichen Traum erreicht haben –
sie sind Stars einer Reality-TV-Show.    Auszug aus einem Text von Ana Iwataki,
Ein populäres Format, das in ihrem       ursprünglich veröffentlicht von Holoholo Books,
                                         I will set a stage for you, 2017.
Werk auch als Kochshow oder Musik-
video auftauchen könnte. Es dient
als Rahmen, um den Zuschauer in ein
vermeintlich leichtes Vergnügen zu

“You can’t dismantle the master’s house      a war. The two construction experts
with the master’s tools.” – Audre Lourde     move through the basement, describ-
                                             ing its selling points (“modern, open-
In Finishing a Raw Basement (2017)           concept, rustic appeal” ) and pointing
Ilana Harris-Babou and her mother            out its problems (“Do you see that? I
adopt the format of the home improve-        see that. Yes, I see that too.” ) They brief-
ment show as a template for a non-           ly visit a deck with a pool, they realize
linear, materially based exploration         how far they have to go. What does
of domestic aspirations. The video           it mean to repair something? It is to
deals with guilt, reparation, and the        restore what has been broken, to re-
idea of the American dream as com-           turn it to a formerly health state. It
mon themes in many works of her.             is to make good, to compensate, to
It follows the notion that everyone          mend a deficiency. How often though,
can achieve merit through hard work          is a repair successful enough, complete
and endurance. But this notion also          enough, to erase the memory of what
assumes that the systems in which so-        was broken? The tools to attempt the
ciety operates work equally for every-       repair are broken; they are dysfunc-
one.                                         tional objects. The ceramic hammer
      The American dream is perfor-          shatters on the nail. The exposed brick
mance par excellence. The home im-           is only brick-red paint. The equipment
provement show and its ubiquity is           will never match the scope of the foun-
symptomatic of this—there is no more         dational damage.
real symbol of the achievement of the
dream than homeownership. Systemic           Excerpt from text by Ana Iwataki, originally
racism is the foundation of this ideal;      published by Holoholo Books, I will set a stage
                                             for you, 2017.
it is the tool and the material that built
the master’s house. If there is absurdity
in Ilana Harris-Babou’s work, it is be-
cause our world and its foundations
are absurd. The artist and her mother
play “construction experts” who have
achieved that other dream of success—
they are stars of a reality TV show.
A popular format, which elsewhere in
her work could be a cooking show or
music video, serves as a framework
to lull the viewer into an initial easy
engagement. Humor plays this role
as well; they are gentle messengers for
the violence of the message.
      The video also speaks about repa-
rations. Reparations come from the
same linguistic root as “repair”—they
are an act of repairing or mending,
most often by an aggressor following

Human Design             [2019]
HD Video, 5:40 min.

Mit Human Design (2019) stellt Ilana      tungsunternehmens, die im Senegal
Harris-Babou eine Verbindung her          nach ihren ästhetischen Wurzeln
zwischen der obsessiven Ästhetisie-       sucht, um sie für ihre gehobenen Kund-
rung der zeitgenössischen Konsum-         schaft verwertbar zu machen. In der
gesellschaft, die alle Ungleichheiten     Rolle der genialen Designerin, die für
durch ein vermeintlich „authentisches“    ein auf Möbel und Wohnaccessoires
Design nivelliert, und dem Trauma der     spezialisiertes Unternehmen arbeitet,
Kolonialgeschichte, das die Realität      nimmt Harris-Babou den Zuschauer
vieler Afroamerikaner weiterhin prägt.    mit auf eine Reise zu den Ursprüngen
Die Künstlerin hinterfragt, wie sich      des „guten Designs“. Das Video ist eine
zeitgenössisches Design kulturelles       Satire im Stil einer Reisesendung für
Kapital aneignet und dabei bestimmte      das Fernsehen. Was als Suche nach
historische Kontexte ausgelassen wer-     dem Ursprung von zwei Holzpaneelen
den. Hinter Human Design verbirgt         mit volkstümlichen Schnitzereien
sich eine wichtige Kritik an der Art      beginnt, wird zu einer Geschichte der
und Weise, wie traditionelle Objekte      Selbsterkenntnis. Die Reise führt die
und Kunsthandwerk gehandelt, ange-        Designerin nach Afrika, wo sie auf
eignet und umdefiniert werden, und        einer kleinen Veranda voller Masken,
wie ihre Geschichte zugunsten von         Totem und anderer Holzschnitzereien
Handelsinteressen und Kommerz über-       den Ursprung der beiden Paneele
gangen wird.                              ausfindig macht. Eine noch genauere
    Das Video führt auf eine Erfahrung    Untersuchung der Herkunft dieser
zurück, die Harris-Babou im Zusam-        Objekte führt sie schließlich zum Mai-
menhang mit afrikanischen Holz-           son des Esclaves auf der senegalesi-
schnitzereien machte, die im Flagship-    schen Insel Gorée. Das Haus wurde
Store des Möbelkaufhauses Restoration     1776 erbaut und diente als vorüber-
Hardware in Manhattan ausgestellt         gehendes Auffanglager für afrikani-
waren. Als sie nach der Herkunft der      sche Sklaven, die nach Übersee ver-
Schnitzereien fragte, antwortete ein      kauft werden sollten. Im Inneren des
Verkaufsmitarbeiter: „Wir schicken        Gebäudes befindet sich eine Tür, die
unsere Mitarbeiter rund um den Globus,    als The Door of No Return bekannt ist
um diese originalen Objekte auszusu-      und direkt auf den glitzernden Ozean
chen“, und erklärte, dass sie nicht zum   führt. Einigen Berichten zufolge diente
Verkauf stünden. Mit anderen Worten,      diese Tür als direkter Zugang für
es handelte sich um exotische Kurio-      Hunderte, wenn nicht Tausende von
sitäten aus Afrika, die einen ansonsten   Sklaven zur Verfrachtung auf Schiffe.
nüchternen Verkaufsraum für den                Diese Geschichte hervorzuheben
gehobenen, überwiegend weißen             erscheint um so dringlicher, als die
Geschmack attraktiv machen sollten.       Wiederaneignung des Objekts als Ware
    Für Human Design schlüpft die         daran scheitert, seine eigene Vergan-
Künstlerin in die Rolle der Geschäfts-    genheit und Verfügbarkeit sichtbar zu
führerin eines fiktiven Inneneinrich-     machen. Harris-Babou manifestiert

diese Dringlichkeit durch verschiedene
Schichten, Persönlichkeiten und Erfah-
rungen, indem sie eine Reise erfindet
und ein Trauma in Erinnerung ruft, das
persönlich und kollektiv, individuell
und universell ist.

Auszug aus einem Text von Adriana Blidaru,
ursprünglich veröffentlicht in Cura.31 magzine,
2019.

                                                  Videostills (Human Design)

With Human Design (2019), Ilana Har-         gin of two wooden plates carved with
ris-Babou establishes an interconnec-        tribal patterns becomes a story of
tion between the obsessive aesthetici-       self-discovery. This journey takes the
zation of contemporary consumer              designer to Africa, where she finds
society that levels all inequalities         the origins of the two plates on a small
through a purportedly ’authentic’            porch crowded with masks, totems,
design, and the trauma of colonial his-      and other wooden carvings. But she
tory, which continues to shape the re-       requests an even deeper examination
ality of many African Americans. The         on the origin of these objects, which
artist questions how cultural currency       further leads to the Maison des Esclaves
is appropriated in contemporary de-          on Gorée Island, in Senegal. A house
sign, and how specific histories are         that was built in 1776, and used as a
edited out. Human Design conceals an         temporary holding center for African
important critique of how traditional        slaves to be sold overseas. Inside the
objects and crafts are traded, appropri-     house, a door known as The Door of
ated and whitewashed, and how their          No Return, opens up right into the
history is discarded for traffic and com-    gleaming ocean. Some accounts say
merce.                                       that this door served as a direct pas-
     The video was inspired by an ex-        sageway to lead hundreds, if not thou-
perience she had involving African           sands, of slaves on ships.
wood carvings displayed at the high-              The presence of this history can
end furniture company Restoration            feel even more urgent in a context in
Hardware’s Manhattan flagship. When          which an object’s re-appropriation
Harris-Babou inquired about the carv-        as a commodity fails to account for
ings’ source, a sales associate replied,     its past and its conditions of arrival.
“We send team members out across the         Harris-Babou manifests this urgency
globe to find these one-of-a-kind ob-        through different layers, personas, and
jects,” and explained that they weren’t      experiences, devising a journey and
for sale. In other words, they were ex-      recalling a trauma that is personal and
otic curios from Africa used to enliven      collective, individual, and universal.
an otherwise staid retail space catering
to upscale, largely white tastes. For        Excerpt from text by Adriana Blidaru, originally
Human Design, the artist casts herself       published in Cura.31 magzine, 2019.
as CEO of a fictional interior design
company who travels to Senegal to find
her aesthetic roots for the benefit of
her high-end clientele. Playing the role
of the designer-as-genius who works
for a company specializing in furniture
and home accessories, Harris-Babou
takes the viewer on a journey to dis-
cover the origins of “good design.” The
video is a satire that imitates the aes-
thetic of the travel TV show, but what
is initially the quest of finding the ori-

Leaf of Life           [2020/21]
Mehrkanal-Videoinstallation, Tapete, Maße variabel /
Multichannel video installation, wallpaper, dimensions variable

In ihrer neuesten Arbeit, die während               Neben Bowman kommen weitere
der letzten 1,5 Jahre entstanden ist,               prominente Persönlichkeiten in der
beschäftigt sich die Künstlerin mit den             Videoinstallation zu Wort, die sich
gravierenden Ungleichheiten im ame-                 auf unterschiedlicher Ebene für die
rikanischen Gesundheitssystem. Gera-                Schwarzen Communities in Amerika
de in der Corona-Pandemie hat sich                  stark gemacht haben. Darunter u. a.
nicht nur in den USA gezeigt, wie un-               der US-Rapper Nipsey Hussle, um den
gleich sich die allgemeine Gesund-                  sich ebenfalls Verschwörungstheorien
heitsversorgung in den unterschiedli-               ranken, nachdem er 2019 auf offener
chen Gesellschaftsgruppen auswirkt.                 Straße erschossen wurde. Dabei wurde
In einem Interview der Künstlerin mit               über den Zusammenhang von Nipseys
ihrer Schwester kommen konkrete                     Tod mit einer Dokumentation über
Erfahrungen mit Rassismus aus ihrem                 Dr. Sebi spekuliert, an welcher der Rap-
engsten Umfeld zum Ausdruck. Sie                    per gerade arbeitete. Es gab Vermutun-
werden durch Fernsehmitschnitte über                gen, dass sowohl Nipsey als auch Bow-
und mit dem selbsternannten Heiler                  man – der wenige Jahre zuvor in Un-
und Alternativmediziner Alfredo Bow-                tersuchungshaft starb – von der Phar-
man flankiert, der als Dr. Sebi bekannt             maindustrie getötet wurden, um die
wurde. Seit den 1980ern propagierte                 Schwarze Bevölkerung daran zu hin-
er eine umstrittene aber bis heute                  dern, eigene und unabhängige Behand-
populäre Medizin, die auf Pflanzen                  lungsmethoden zu entwickeln. Harris-
basiert und für die Heilung von Men-                Babous Videocollage Leaf of Life macht
schen afrikanischer und indigener                   deutlich, wie leicht sich berechtigte
Abstammung bestimmt ist. Ebenso                     Kritik an dominierenden Systemen für
wie seine Methoden ist auch seine Bio-              Verschwörungsmythen und ideologi-
grafie von Mythen, Gerichtsprozessen                sierter Propaganda missbrauchen oder
und Verschwörungstheorien durchzo-                  damit in Verbindung bringen lässt.
gen. Vor dem Hintergrund einer anti-                Letztendlich stellt sie hier, wie in ihren
kolonialen Kritik bezog sich Dr. Sebi               anderen Arbeiten auch, die Frage nach
auf das Alte Testament aber auch auf                der Legitimation populärer Narrative.
Theorien des Schwarzen Nationalis-
mus, um die Verwendung natürlicher
Pflanzen als Heilmittel gegenüber
den Medikamenten der Pharmaindus-
trie zu rechtfertigen. Die Früchte auf
den Wänden, die in Harris-Babous
Installation auf den ersten Blick wie
als Dekoration wirken, sind einer von
Dr. Sebi empfohlenen Diät entnom-
men, die eine strikte Beschränkung auf
ausgewählte Lebensmittel vorsieht.

Videostills/Collagen (Leaf of Life)

In her latest work, Leaf of Life (2020/     levels. Among them the U.S. rapper
2021), which was created during the         Nipsey Hussle, around whom conspira-
last 1.5 years, the artist deals with the   cy theories also swirled after he was
serious inequalities in the American        shot in the open street in 2019 and
health care system. The Corona pan-         speculation arose about the connec-
demic in particular has shown, not          tion to the documentary on Dr. Sebi,
only in the U.S., how unequal the gen-      which the rapper was working on.
eral health care system impacts differ-     Some claimed that Nipsey as well as
ent communities. In an interview            the self-proclaimed healer – who him-
between the artist and her sister, con-     self died in custody – were killed by
crete experiences of racism from her        the pharmaceutical industry specifical-
closest environment are expressed.          ly to prevent Black people to figure
They are flanked by television record-      out their own and independent way
ings documenting appearances of,            of medical treatment. Harris-Babou’s
as well as features about the self-pro-     video collage Leaf of Life makes clear
claimed herbalist and healer Alfredo        how easily legitimate criticism of do-
Bowman, popular known as Dr. Sebi.          minant systems can be misused for,
Since the 1980s, he propagated a con-       or blend into conspiracy myths and
troversial but still popular medicine       ideologized propaganda. Ultimately,
based on herbs and intended for the         as in her other work, she raises the
healing of people of African and indig-     question of the legitimacy of popular
enous descent. Like his methods, his        narratives here as well.
biography is riddled with myths, court
cases and conspiracy theories. Bow-
man based his medical treatments
on principles of traditional herbal heal-
ing that he was taught by his grand-
mother in Honduras, where he grew
up. Driven by anti-colonial criticism he
often referred to the Old Testament
and Black nationalist theories to justify
using natural plants as a remedy for
illness, rather than the pharmaceuti-
cals of the Western healthcare system.
The fruits on the walls in Harris-Ba-
bou’s installation, which at first glance
appear to be for decoration, are taken
from a diet recommended by Dr. Sebi,
which includes strict restriction to
selected foods.
     In addition to Bowman, other pro-
minent personalities have their say
in the viedeo installation, who have
made a strong stand for the Black
communities in America on different

Smoke, Mirrors, and Splinters
By Dessane Lopez Cassell

“Is the American project a ceramic ham-           of high-end advertorials. Vaguely stirring
mer?”1 In this era of crumbling empires,          piano chords score the artist’s entrance
Ilana Harris-Babou’s question is a fitting        to a dilapidated old barn, an architectural
one. Like many of the queries her work            trope ripped straight from the pages of
poses, this particular one highlights             RH’s notorious “source books,” in which
the fragility of American exceptionalism,         rampant cultural appropriation is wield-
slyly underlining it in red pen.                  ed in service of concocting a slick, yet
                                                  perfectly rustic, Modernist aesthetic.
Breakable hammers and other fragile
tools abound throughout Harris-Babou’s            Here, the artist plays the part of a cor-
creative output, which encompasses                porate “reparator,” a lone Black woman
sculpture, video, installation, and more.         creative roving the American countryside
Describing her work as a “Trojan horse,”          in search of the nation’s most “authentic
the Brooklyn-born artist traffics in              histories.” At various points, the video
markers of the mundane, using them to             cuts to brown-and-white photographic
poke fun at hyper-consumerism and our             stills that freeze her in time, with an
(sometimes unwitting) complicity with             upright broom in-hand. The gesture
racial capitalism.2 In videos like Repara-        echoes that of Ella Watson’s in Gordon
tion Hardware (2018) and more recently,           Parks’s American Gothic (1942), itself a
Human Design (2020), Harris-Babou                 jab at the structural inequities elided by
crafts satirical takes on case studies in         Grant Wood’s iconic, eponymous painting
aspirational marketing. In each instance,         from 1930.
she directs her lens at the enduring allure
of the luxury home-furnishing company             Hands are a frequent motif, in this video
formerly known as Restoration Hardware            and throughout Harris-Babou’s moving
(trendily rechristened RH in recent times).       image work. They are often shown in
                                                  close-up, dutifully writing, drawing, or
“Reparations will be our most ambitious           otherwise toiling away in service of
project yet,” Harris-Babou calmly intones         her biting takes on “good design.” In
in voiceover at the start of Reparation           Reparation Hardware, our main character
Hardware. Originally commissioned                 scribbles thoughtfully in a notebook:
for the online streaming platform DIS.            “40 ACRES AND A MULE” appears over
ART, the edutainment-style video                  and over again on a page in handwritten
sports a faux-inspirational soundtrack,           block letters. A perpetual trickster,
transporting viewers to the placid realm          Harris-Babou takes aim at the false

1 Ilana Harris-Babou, conversation with the author, August 19, 2021.
2 Ilana Harris-Babou, BRIC Artist-in-Residence, BK Stories, August 9, 2016, BRIC TV,
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG8YNLWrW74

promise of reparations for freed Black          video works are never scripted. The Get
people in the wake of the Civil War. That       Out-style antics and campy exchanges
glimmer of restitution in the direct wake       are largely the result of improvisation
of centuries of enslavement is one that         between the artist and family members
remains glaringly unfulfilled today—a           on camera. (She often ropes her siblings
fact Harris-Babou’s character lampoons,         in as well.) Harris-Babou later “makes
noting in a chipper tone: “We’ve earned         sense of [things] in the edit,” re-recording
the right to the soil, many times over          as necessary.3 Though she often fills
and over. And now we’re determined to           the roles of actor, art director, and prop
have it.”                                       maker, as well as editor, she sees her work
                                                as more akin to collage than filmmaking.
Aptly, Harris-Babou’s futile tools—made
of both tender clay and the aforemen-           Reflecting on her chameleonic tenden-
tioned ceramic—thwack at crooked                cies, Harris-Babou once recalled a high
nails at various points; each casually          school-era Halloween costume, which, in
violent meeting of materials rendering          hindsight, has become a conceptual well
them useless as they crack, splinter, and       from which much of her work springs.
bend out of shape. These “dysfunctional         Stuck without a costume, she donned
ceramics” make an earlier appearance in         all-white and went to school as just
her 2017 video and installation, Finishing      that—a comical stunt that reminded me
a Raw Basement. A spoof of popular home         of the use of whiteface on FX ’s Atlanta,
improvement shows, this work enlists            that similarly incisive and occasionally
Harris-Babou’s mother as co-star. Sheila        magical realist series. (Think Tobias
Harris, a frequent collaborator of the          Walner, rather than Teddy Perkins.4)
artist, is perhaps the original doyenne of      Harris-Babou’s ingenuity, however, was
the artist’s unique brand of sly, deadpan       lost on her supposedly progressive
humor. Together, the two play the roles         peers at Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s School. The
of cheerful yet mildly disaffected hosts        expected whine of a white classmate—
intent on sprucing up a “man cave.”             “if I dressed up as Black, I wouldn’t
                                                be allowed to do that”—laid bare a
At one point, the characters exchange           fundamental inability to understand
HGTV buzzwords: “Classic. Modern.               what might have been one of her earliest
Transitional. Mid-century.” Each sheathed       performances, as well as the power
in the demeanor of an awkward tele-             dynamics at play.5
vision host, their plastic smiles and
perfect lipstick frozen into closely            For Harris-Babou, performing whiteness
cropped frames. Cannily, Harris-Babou’s         is a way of “revealing its strangeness,”

3 Ilana Harris-Babou, conversation with the author, August 19, 2021.
4 Atlanta, season 1, episode 6, FX, directed by Donald Glover. See here for an example:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diLqmtXe1tk
5 Ilana Harris-Babou in conversation with Amy Beecher, The Amy Beecher Show, “Episode 30:
   Cooking Yoni Eggs with Ilana Harris-Babou,” August 9, 2019, https://amybeecher.show/
   Episode-30-Ilana-Harris-Babou

her aim being to eventually decenter it           Leaf of Life and her ongoing Wellness
altogether.6 Hence the importance of              Collages (an evolving multi-channel
using her own body and those of her               installation and a collage series, re-
family; from her cunning spoofs of cook-          spectively) take on the deeply unfunny
ing shows (Cooking with the Erotic, 2016)         subject of healthcare inequality in the
and home improvement media (Finishing             US. Begun in 2020, amid the ongoing
a Raw Basement; Reparation Hardware;              Covid-19 pandemic, these projects exert
Human Design), to her acerbic critiques of        a laser focus on the allure and nefarious
wellness culture (Decision Fatigue, 2020;         grip of “alternative” lifestyle empires like
Leaf of Life, 2020–), Harris-Babou’s work         those of “Dr.” Sebi (born Alfredo Bowman)
positions Black people in realms where            and Gwyneth Paltrow’s goop. Lawsuits
they are traditionally omitted. Beyond            and in some cases, serious consumer
commenting on absence, she draws our              harm, have trailed these cult-like enti-
attention to the systems that perpetuate          ties—the dubious philosophies of which
this commercial exclusion. Each sweep-            have become all the more concerning
ing gesticulation or thumbs up dripping           amid a global health emergency.7 Still,
in paint becomes a pointed subversion             significant followings of everyday people
of the omnipresent, manicured white               and celebrities alike have flocked to each.
hands perpetually rendered in close-up.
For regardless of their specific genre,           Among his numerous beliefs, Sebi
these racialized tropes of aspirational           proposed that health issues like sickle
media act as both the conductors and              cell anemia, leukemia, and even AIDS
instigators of mainstream desires for             could be remedied among Black people
more or better. These hands don’t just            if they adhered to an all-alkaline diet,
show us what we want; they tell us, from          free of “Caucasian food” (animal products
the vantage point of people we have been          and processed foods).8 In the 1980s, he
conditioned to heed. Harris-Babou’s work          founded Dr. Sebi’s Cell Food to peddle his
pulls back the curtain and points that out,       philosophies and products, attracting
eliciting cathartic cackles in the process.       stars like Nipsey Hussle, Michael Jackson,
More recently though, her projects have           and Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes.9
veered slightly out of the realm of humor.

6 Ilana Harris-Babou in conversation with Amy Beecher, 2019.
7 See “Gwyneth Paltrow‘s Goop series on Netflix slammed by NHS chief,” BBC, January 30, 2020.
   https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51312441; Jonathan Jarry, “‘Dr.’ Sebi: What Do We Make of
   this Non-Doctor,” Office for Science and Society, McGill University, April 12, 2019.
   https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/quackery/dr-sebi-what-do-we-make-him;
   Emily Kirkpatrick, “Goop Responds to “Frivolous” Lawsuit Claiming That Its Vagina Candles
   Explode After Lighting,” Vanity Fair, May 18, 2021. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/05/
   gwyneth-paltrow-goop-vagina-candle-lawsuit-explosion-fire
8 lana Harris-Babou, “Healing of the Nations,” Triple Canopy, August 5, 2021.
   https://www.canopycanopycanopy.com/contents/healing-of-the-nations
9 Chris Bell, “Conspiracy theories spread after Nipsey Hussle shooting,” BBC News,
   April 2, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-47785688

For Harris-Babou, the subject strikes             it, invites me to linger in an awareness
particularly close to home for a few              of that curious grey zone in which Black
reasons: just before the pandemic, her            folks who remind me of my aunties
sister, a disillusioned health care worker,       and cousins are somehow aligned with
began following some of the Facebook              the (largely white) conspiracy theorists
content produced by Sebi’s company. She           and libertarians I learned a long time
quickly became alarmed by its promotion           ago to stay away from. An unexpected,
of life-threatening misinformation (in-           troubling Venn diagram takes shape.
cluding a total rejection of germ theory)
and exited their orbit soon after.10 Still,       Skepticism, in Harris-Babou’s rendering,
the continued, cult-like following of             might free you or plunge you into an
Sebi’s doctrine remains concerning to             endless rabbit hole of paranoia, particu-
Harris-Babou, particularly given its popu-        larly when combined with utter systemic
larity among communities of color, upon           abandonment. Worse still, the choice is
whom the pandemic’s disproportionate              rarely entirely yours, inextricably bound
effect has been well-documented.11                up in the contexts and systems we are
The uneven deadliness of the pandemic             each inextricably part of, oppressed by, or
struck the artist early on, after a family        forced to comply with.
member died from the virus: “for a long
time after, I didn’t know of any white            With startling clarity, Harris-Babou’s
folks who had anyone in their extended            work dispels the smoke and mirrors of
family who had died.”12                           the fantasy being sold to us, revealing
                                                  what tricks us into buying it.
In Leaf of Life, lush, brightly hued fruits
and vegetables proliferate, adorning
the edges of video frames and acting
as wallpaper for the installation. A nod
to Sebi’s enduring belief in a cure-all
alkaline diet, these raw foods float about        This text by New York based curator, writer
like oversized props from a high-school           and editor Dessane Lopez Cassell was co-com-
play, as each video’s sound and coloring          missioned in the occassion of the exhibitions
conjures the oversaturated mystique of            “Tasteful Interiors” at ICA at UTC, Chattanooga,
                                                  USA (Aug 16–Nov 5) and „Wholesome Fun“ at
late ‘90s music videos. Each clip sends the
                                                  Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany (Oct 2–Nov 28).
viewer oscillating between ideological
poles, bouncing from healthy skepticism
of the medical industry to an anti-vaxxer
level of distrust as if in a pinball machine.
Dr. Sebi’s world, as Harris-Babou presents

10 Ilana Harris-Babou, “Healing of the Nations.”
11 “Health Equity Considerations & Racial & Ethnic Minority Groups,” Center for Disease Control
    and Prevention, updated April 19, 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/
    community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html
12 Ilana Harris-Babou, “Healing of the Nations.”

IMPRESSUM

Danke an / Thank you                                Werke in der Ausstellung konnten durch die
Rachel Jobe Reese, Director and Curator,            Unterstützung der Triangle Arts Association, NY
Institute of Contemporary Art University of         realisiert werden. Die Ausstellung wird parallel
Tennessee at Chattanooga.                           zu ihrer Einzelausstellung Tasteful Interiors
                                                    im ICA@UTC, Chattanooga, USA präsentiert.
Texte / texts
Adriana Blidaru, Ana Iwataki, Katja Schroeder       Works in the exhibition have been made with the
                                                    support of Triangle Arts Association, NY.
Team Kunsthaus Hamburg                              The exhibition will be presented in tandem with
Künstlerische Leitung / Artistic Director:          her solo show Tasteful Interiors at ICA@UTC,
Katja Schroeder                                     Chattanooga, USA.
Kuratorin / Curator: Anna Nowak
                                                    Kunsthaus Hamburg
Kommunikation / Communication:
                                                    Klosterwall 15
Elena Weickmann
                                                    20095 Hamburg
Buchhaltung / Accounting: Reni Pathak               +49 40 335803
Praktikum / Internship: Cora Hille                  info@kunsthaushamburg.de
Besucherservice / Visitor service:                  www.kunsthaushamburg.de
Saskia Bannasch, Hayo Heye,                         Öffnungszeiten / Opening hours:
Naho Kawabe, Gabriele Meyer                         Di–So, 11–18 Uhr/Tue–Sun, 11 am–6 pm
In freier Mitarbeit / Freelancer:                   Eintritt / Admission: 5 €, ermäßigt/reduced: 3 €
Carlos Gutiérrez, Arne Klaskala,
Jonas Kolenc, Jochen Weber

Mit freundlicher Unterstützung der / Kindly supported by

Kasse

                                  Finishing
                                    a Raw
                                  Basement
Decision Fatigue

  Leaf of Life
                                   Human
                                   Design

                   Leaf of Life