THE MARK OF MAN II (2021) COMMISIONED BY BOY.BROTHER.FRIEND

Drawing on the prolific work of French-Martiniquan psychologist Frantz Fanon and philosopher and vanguard African-American feminist scholar Moya Bailey, Elisha Tawe and Mohamed Mussa’s collaborative work The Mark of Man explores wanton boys, wandering, and the unending search for solitude. In conversations with themselves, two young men reckon with the art of self-love, journeying to and from soliloquies of sadness. Part One recounts expectations and relationships gone wrong, whereas Part Two plays with prose in the English language and Kiswahili - the national dialect of Tanzania, where both artists were raised. Telling stories of delusion and the wretchedness of loss, notions of drowning and asylum are unhinged. Many men traverse borders for salvation or acceptance.

The Mark of Man - shot and directed by Elisha Tawe & Mohamed Mussa - appeared in exhibitions internationally including Boy.Brother.Friend & Burberry’s ‘Before Anyone Else’ in London and Ajabu Ajabu & Le Guess Who’s ‘Stream of Consciousness’ in Tanzania & the Netherlands.