Jermay Michael Gabriel

Jermay Michael Gabriel is an Italian-Ethiopian-Eritrean trans-disciplinary artist. His work is based on an experimental, and often extreme, effort to resist the permanence and elusiveness of the Italian colonial archive through the subversion of its symbols of power. Gabriel’s artistic practice embraces both sound and contemporary art. He starts from the assumption that spaces at the intersection of multiple forms of marginalisation, visibility or representation do not produce liberation. Colonial trauma does not have a linear trajectory, nor does memory. It sinks into the fibres without a temporal pattern and crosses generations, going back and forth between past, present and future. Gabriel’s process chronicles the multifaceted dimensions of these journeys, exorcising trauma through sound, installation and performance, embracing cultural legacies and collective memories as a form of healing. Jermay Michael Gabriel is also a member of the music duo Plethor X together with sound designer Giovanni Isgrò. He is also the founder and director of BHMM (Black History Month Milan) and the founder of Kirykou (Milan). EXHIBITIONS AND PERFORMANCES 2024 - Cose Bizzarre, solo exhibition curated by Elisa Giuliano, ArtNoble Gallery, Milan 2024 - The Recovery plan: alle porte coi sassi, group exhibition, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto, Canada 2024 - Meskel, solo exhibition curated by Justin Randolph Thompson, Band Gallery,Toronto, Canada 2024 - Biennale of Malta, Valletta, Malta 2024 - Members Don’t Get Weary, performance at Lagos Biennial, Lagos, Nigeria 2024 - Water talk, video-screening curated by Andrea Conte, Mercato di Traiano, Rome, Italy 2024 - Ground break, performance during Nari Ward’s exhibition, Fondazione Pirelli Hangar-bicocca, Milan, Italy 2023 - Noocene, curated by Silvia Vannacci, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Carrara, Palazzo Binelli, Carrara, Italy 2023 - E il clamore è divenuto voce, performance curated by Ooh Sound and BHMF at Teatro Nazionale Virgilio Sieni, Florence, Italy 2023 - No More Tokenism, Chapter III, performance curated by Black Art School, Museo delle Culture (Mudec), Milan, Italy 2023 - Minted in Enemy Bronze, performance during Justin Randolph Thompson’s exhibition, British School of Rome, Italy 2023 - Une autre histoire du monde, performance in collaboration with Justin Randolph Thompson, MuCEM, Marseille, France 2023 - Stratificazioni, group exhibition with a critical text by Janine Gaëlle Dieuji, ArtNoble Gallery, Milan, Italy 2023 - Museo delle Opacità, group exhibition curated by Matteo Lucchetti, Museo delle Civiltà di Roma, Rome, Italy 2023 - Coloriange, performance at Fondazione Sozzani, Milan, Italy 2023 - Meccanismo di difesa, group exhibition curated by The Recovery Plan, Florence, Italy 2022 - Il Cono d’Ombra, group exhibition curated by Marco Scotini, Maschio Angioino, Naples, Italy 2022 - Ceremony (Burial of an Undead World), group exhibition curated by Elisa Giuliano and Anselm Franke, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany 2022 - David and other feats, bi-personal exhibition, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy 2022 - Parade électronique, performance, Teatro Arsenale, Milan, Italy 2021 - Il mondo visto da qui, group exhibition, Museo delle Culture (Mudec), Milan, Italy 2021 - Plethor X - what you mean, man, performance curated by Chiara Figone, Archive, Milan, Italy 2019 - Still, performance, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain 2017 - Menelikke, Rome Europe Festival, performance in collaboration with Invernomuto, Gallerie d’Italia, Rome, Italy 2017 - Still, performance curated by Terraforma, Teatro Burri, Milan, Italy 2015 - Ethiopian Pavillion, World Expo, Milan, Italy RESIDENCIES 2024 - Biennale Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain 2023 - Atlas Residency, Obidus, Portugal 2023 - Hangar Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal 2023 - Villa Romana, Florence, Italy 2022 - Fondazione Jorio Vivarelli, Pistoia, Italy 2020 - YGBI Research Residency, The Recovery Plan, Florence, Italy