Onyeka Igwe Living With Kira Freije

a light at our side,

a light of our life.

our lives,

in stillness,

you watched as we moved,

smoke snaking along the lines of

our ceiling,

we commented on brass;

on tin,

on steel,

on stone.

we watched lovers fight;

hushed professional tones,

steampunk notions,

and the Iguazu fall

by your light.

our lives,

our light,

in movement,

in stillness,

and,

all at once.

***

Text by Onyeka Igwe in response to living with

‘Flying fingers settle, and align over potholes to

sound the notes of a silent home’, by Kira Freije

Stainless steel, copper, blown glass, LED light

2020

***

‘Living With’ was produced during lockdown 2020 and sought to reflect on the conditions we found ourselves in. A circular exchange of artworks was set up between artists Kira Freije, Onyeka Igwe, Maria de Lima, Nicole Morris, Alicia Reyes McNamara and Katie Schwab. Each artist was invited to exhibit in an assigned room of another artist’s home, in turn sharing images of the artworks installed in their own home alongside their response to living with this work.

‘Living With’ was the third iteration of the self-initiated project INGEST/DIGEST/EXCRETE, which was established in 2018 by Maria de Lima and
 Nicole Morris. Taking multiple formats including, exhibition, residency, publication, radio broadcast and symposium, the project considered collaboration and how a network of friendship can create spaces for shared dialogue, exchange and production. Over the past three years we have explored the home as a context for this project, which has housed the conversations, material explorations and social encounters that we have archived here.