This multimodal space creates a break between voice and silence, the oral and the visual, and is an attempt to ensure the survival of sensory cultures in today's world. In the form of a virtual artistic chain letter, “rongin shagor” explores the concept of heritage by engaging others in the discourse of how our history shapes our actions today. A series of multidisciplinary and multilingual artists have responded to the poem “Community” by May Ayim, a progressive thinker and  key figure that shaped the Afro-German movement.

"rongin shagor - the multicolored ocean" symbolizes the variety of poetic and artistic interpretations and inspirations that emerge from a poem. They drift, embark, collide, and stay afloat - all in the same place, each marking the beginnings of different struggles in identity politics. Dreams, visions and associative imagination of poetry are reinforced by a collective growth of individual, sequential works of art - beginning with the aforementioned poem by May Ayim. The reactions of interdisciplinary artists to this work have shaped “rongin shagor” and invite others to participate.

The erasure caused by the colonial era - with the parallel narrative of the pandemic - challenges us to confront the realities of loss: loss of connection, loss of oral tradition, loss of ritual, loss of loved ones, loss of the physical touch, loss of justice. Amid all this loss, there is a need to create a common space in which to make visible and audible the challenges faced by the various diaspora communities in Berlin and beyond. This participatory online project will seek to create a hub of knowledge through art and make it accessible to a wider community to engage in the discourses over time.

A primarily digital project with manifestations in physical space, “rongin shagor” addresses the interactions between European nations and the societies they colonized by exploring issues of identity, language, representation, displacement, migration, resistance and agency.