ęmí: freedomsong by Rohan Ayinde and Tayo Rapoport
Featuring music, movement and spoken word, this live audio-visual performance looks to alchemise grief into a shared language of love, protest and possibility.
ęmí: freedomsong is an audio-visual work by artist duo Rohan Ayinde and Tayo Rapoport, created in collaboration with curator Zarina Rossheart and in dialogue with bell hooks’ All About Love and Camille Sapara Barton’s Tending Grief.
Reflecting on the Yoruba concept of ęmí {the breath that animates life} and inspired by the Palestinian struggle for dignity and self-determination, freedomsong invites audiences to connect with their voices and transform grief into a culture of love and radical change.
For Le Guess Who?, they present a performance ritual in which vocalists anaiis, Tawiah, Bint Mbareh, Amina Gichinga, Roxanne Tataei, and Rahel Debebe-Dessalegne; dancer Yewande YoYo Odunubi; and musicians Auclair (percussion) and Kareem Samara (oud) join in a collective voice honouring the bravery of artists who speak out for liberation.
ęmí: freedomsong (2025) was commissioned by BUILDHOLLYWOOD as part of ‘All About Love’ project curated by Zarina Rossheart; produced in partnership with Art Practice. The live iteration was commissioned by the Barbican and premiered as part of Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica in June 2026.
Photography by Karolina Wielocha
