Letters. A Reading, in Progress
“she first spoke of bloodletting in the early hours of the morning, a glass of cold milk in one hand, a fistful of vitamins in the other. the measured intricacies of her grieving process, loving process. if done thoughtlessly: filled up lungs, swollen eyes, ferocious cough, static head. so she devised another way: let a few tears come out, drop by drop, then tie up the ducts and wait for a while. when the pressure becomes too much, you can breach the dam again. but long pauses in between are crucial, to avoid being drowned. it’s like bloodletting, she said; a spurt of relief eclipsed by the promise of its inevitable resumption, drop by drop.”
— Excerpt from Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, BloodLetter, 2025
During Letters. A Reading, in Progress, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju will read a collage of new, old, and in-progress texts from her book Earnestly (Archive Books, 2022) and her latest manuscript BloodLetter.
While Earnestly invites us to navigate the vast social and emotional landscapes of girlhood, body image, and desire, the texts in BloodLetter form a family archive. Personal reflections connect with larger societal issues including intergenerational trauma and resilience, ancestry, and cultural change. The reading will last approximately 60 minutes.
Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju (*1996, USA) is a Nigerian-American artist and author based in Berlin. She is an alumna of New York University and the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture. Through painting, writing, performance and installation, she balances intimate experiences of connection, violence, and healing against broader considerations of cultural distortion and identity.
She has done extensive curatorial and editorial work with SAVVY Contemporary and Archive Books, among others. Currently, she is a participant of the BPA// Berlin program for artists. Recent solo exhibitions include Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju: BloodLetter, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany (2024), and BloodLetter, PSM, Berlin, Germany (2024).
(IN ENGLISH)
Additional information
Meeting point: Pogo Bar
Price info: Tickets available online / Remaining tickets at box office.
Price: €5.00
Price info: Tickets available online / Remaining tickets at box office.
Price: €5.00
Dates
March 2025
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