“Time has been a blur,” “What is time?”, “We’re going backwards in time.”
These kinds of phrases don’t only expose how inundated we are or how we perceive political shifts, they also offer insight into our relationship to time and how our culture defines it.
Mara: 40 Years of Oromo Knowledge Making is a new exhibit at Soomaal House of Art that focuses on the Oromo understanding of time is the focus. Minneapolis resident Ayantu Tibeso is a co-curator of the exhibit, along with Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski and Matshoshi Matsafu. Tibeso says understanding knowledge systems can help us understand where we are today and where we’re headed.
“African knowledge systems have a lot to speak to our contemporary issues in the world and have a lot to teach us about governance, politics, living together, [and] how to think about time,” Tibeso said. “My hope is that whoever walks into this room takes the ideas seriously.”