A Litany for Homegoing

By: Toni Giselle Stuart

A Litany for Homegoing is a poetic audio installation, responding to the exhibition Under Cover of Darkness on show at the Iziko Slave Lodge. The poem is a litany, weaving together the names of the 12 women in the exhibition who were enslaved and/or in servitude during the colonial period. This work is a grief rite: a song to sing the women’s spirits home, so they may find rest. As pedestrians walk down Spin Street, or across Church Square, they will hear the sound played from the Slave Lodge. They can stop and listen to, or continue walking through and with the song. The intention is to create a space for collective healing during this time when we have not been able to grieve, mourn and lay our loved ones to rest in our usual collective ways.