Conference
How to Look Back?
I will be contributing to the Third Biennial Conference of the European Network for Psychological Anthropology (ENPA), themed Anthropologies and Psychologies in Inter/Action – Engaging Interdisciplinary Perspectives.
As part of the program, I am organizing a Walking Lab that explores ethical and methodological innovations in the use of audiovisual tools in fieldwork. The lab will invite participants to reflect on how movement, space, and sensory engagement shape the ways we remember, represent, and "look back" in ethnographic practice.
Title of the Lab: Looking Back: A Practice of Counter-Gaze
Audio-visual and related representation technologies are no longer at the periphery of social research methodologies. Beyond their significant contribution to knowledge production and dissemination, these media, like any other tools, introduce their own set of challenges in researching the human experience. One key issue is the hierarchy these tools impose in fieldwork, the one in possession of the recording device often assumes a position of Power over the subject being recorded.
This audio-visual lab invites participants to engage in an experimental exercise that makes visible the power dynamics embedded in the act of looking through a camera lens.
https://www.uni-muenster.de/ENPA2025/
📍 Conference Dates: June 11–13
📍 Location: Universität Münster, Schlossplatz 2, 48149 Münster
Conference
Unwriting the Museum
I will be presenting my research paper, "Against the Tyranny of Text: Multimodal Unwriting of Ethnographic Museums," at the 17th International SIEF Congress, held from June 3–6, 2025, at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
In this paper, I examine the enduring bias against non-textual forms of representation in ethnographic museums, critiquing how written text constrains interpretive possibilities and reinforces colonial narratives. Drawing on case studies from the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, I argue that text often renders the non-textual passive—dependent on explanation and denied autonomy. This mirrors broader colonial binaries: active/passive, masculine/feminine, colonizer/colonized—where the privileged position is one of speech and observation, and the other is rendered silent and scrutinized.
My paper challenges these hierarchies, calling for a reclamation of sensoriality and a rejection of textual dominance as necessary steps toward unwriting the museum and fostering more just modes of representation.
I will present this paper as part of the panel "Unwriting the Museum" on Wednesday, June 4, from 9:00 to 10:45 AM.
For more details, please visit the official conference page: https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/129/paper/88892
If you’re attending SIEF 2025, I warmly invite you to join the session.
Essay
Black Reflection, White Mirror
The Making of Black-self under The White-gaze (2023)Münster, Germany
One's self-concept is formed through a constant balancing between two opposing but essential needs. The first is the individual's desire for autonomy, which drives their pursuit of self-expression. The second is the individual's desire to belong to a society. However, these desires inevitably come together at a cost: every society has socio-cultural structures that aim to suppress individuals’ sense of self-expression in favor of conforming to societal norms. Thus, the individual is pulled in opposite directions, striving to achieve autonomy and conformity simultaneously. At first glance, these needs appear contradictory but are in fact complementary, as the full actualization of one necessitates the fulfillment of the other.
For instance, the individual develops a self-image to make their defining difference from society visible. Paradoxically, an individual's self-concept—the essence of their individuality—is social in nature, integrally linked with interpersonal dynamics (Fein & Spencer, 1997). Based on this, self-image is developed both with the influence of social environments and simultaneously against them. This delicate dynamic of self-identification with society while accentuating one's difference from it becomes particularly problematic when the individual is black within a white society. The distinctness that a black person has in contrast to white society complicates their sense of belonging and the process of distinguishing their autonomy.
This essay explores how African students currently residing in Germany reconstruct their self-image under these conditions. The research focuses specifically on a theory of self-conception mediated by gaze, analyzing how black selves respond to the gazes of white others to which they are subjected. This essay aims to make visible the kind of oppositional gaze that black people develop to thrive within an environment prejudiced against them.
Request full essay
Essay
Institutionalization of Self-criticism:
A practice of reflexivity in the case of the Humboldt forum (2022)Berlin, Germany
Request full essay
The Haptic Dimension in Tegene’s Paintings
By Yohannes Mulat Mekonnen
April, 2023
In the wide, bright studio filled with several big-size canvases laid against the walls, while at least four others are in progress facing towards him, Tegene Kunbi is deeply engrossed in his work. He moves back and forth between the paintings, adding a stroke in one, and rubbing a tube of paint in the other. Tegene doesn't focus solely on one canvas; rather, he simultaneously works on all the surrounding pieces, his attention shifting seamlessly between them.
Tegene’s paintings are characterized by the permanence of a strong, repetitive yet dynamic geometric framework, delineating registers of intense, thickly applied colors. Tegene's artistic processes involve layering thick coats of oil paint, acrylic, pastel, and often textiles. With precision, he employs palette knives, brushes, and his hands to create highly textured surfaces, each stroke adding depth and tactile complexity to his evolving works.
The haptic dimension in Tegene’s paintings emerges through the meticulous layering of oil paint, resulting in a textured canvas that not only captivates the viewer visually but also stimulates a tactile experience. While modernist views, such as those of Greenberg, emphasize painting's flatness as its defining feature, in order to distinguish painting from all other forms of art. this entails censoring and excluding elements beyond the visual or two dimensions, aiming for the purity of the medium.
Tegene challenges this notion by prioritizing a sensorial, haptic encounter with his work, viewing painting as a physical archive of the artist's hand senses and process. He regards his paintings as indexical translations of his physical presence and embodiment. Through his deliberate material treatment and composition, Tegene aims to evoke a deep connection between the viewer and the physicality of the artwork.
Repetition and Difference
By Yohannes Mulat Mekonnen
January, 2024
Walking through the exhibition hall at Primo Marella Gallery, the exhibition attendant is greeted by Tegene Kunbi's extensive collection of paintings adorning the walls. At first glance, the paintings appear deceivingly similar, the looker’s attention is constantly drawn to the repeated grid patterns that are prominent. Consisting of diagonally stretching grids that recur within each painting and across the entire display, this meticulously structured repetition is what gives Tegene's work its intriguing quality. How does this repetition manage to evoke a sense of novelty in nearly every painting?
For Tegene repetition is not only a prominent feature of his paintings, but it is also a working method that structures his studio experience. Tegene views repetition as crucial for arriving at new forms; he sees it as akin to research or rehearsal. Every day, as he steps into the studio, he takes the risk of starting work without a defined destination. This risk is inherent in the artist's life, requiring a kind of repetition that encompasses rehearsal and research to be productive.
Tegene also associates repetition with music; he insists that he can't work in his studio without it, seeing music as inherently constructed in repetition, unfolding gradually over time. This concept of time is intricately linked to how he structures his paintings. Tegene believes that an empty canvas represents an undefined void devoid of temporality. However, with the placement of the first brushstroke, the canvas transforms, suddenly defining its frame and introducing temporality. In essence, creating a painting for Tegene is akin to sculpting time itself.
Additionally, the cyclical patterns observed in nature, like the changing seasons, highlight a key concept: while these cycles repeat, they're never identical due to evolving circumstances. This notion parallels the idea that one can never step into the same river twice. It underscores Tegene's intention to utilize familiar elements in his paintings to explore fresh expressions of beauty and significance, akin to the dynamic nature of the human face, constructed from a few shared components.
By amalgamating these concepts, we gain a deeper understanding of how repetition is integral to the emergence of novelty in Tegene's artistic practice. Contrary to common perception, Tegene's paintings demonstrate that repetition serves as a fertile ground for new rather than a barrier. Repetition, far from inhibiting innovation, can be the catalyst for it.