With her first solo exhibition in Switzerland, Kunsthalle Bern is focussing on the multi-layered work of Namibian artist Tuli Mekondjo (*1982). Her practice combines personal experience with collective memory and forms of resistance - a process in which history, materiality and spirituality are interwoven.

Mekondjo works with textiles, photography, sculpture, video and archive material. Her works deal with Namibia's colonial past and its repercussions that can still be felt today – from cultural erasure and environmental destruction to social trauma and fragmentation. A central theme of her work is the reclaiming of cultural assets and access to colonial archives that document the colonial legacy - and in which the knowledge and voices of those affected are often missing. Mekondjo questions the role of Western institutions as custodians and interpreters of these materials and demands visibility and participation for the communities.

In addition to existing works, Tuli Mekondjo is creating an expansive installation specifically for Kunsthalle Bern, forming a sensory space of experience. By using organic materials, textiles, and historical photographs, Mekondjo creates a visual language that does not archive memory but keeps it alive – as resistance, as reclamation, as healing.