Sumayah Fallatah
What’s your name and where are you from/based?
My name is Sumayah Fallatah, and I’m currently based in London.
Can you describe your practice in a few words?
Memories, layers, and reflections.
Growing up with Saudi and Nigerian heritage, when did you start exploring your identity and belonging through art?
I started exploring through experimental self-portraits in 2021, then it turned into a major project through Sai Mun Dawo II.
Your practice reflects on the African diaspora within the Arab world. What do you feel is still missing from that conversation?
I want us to be able to have conversions comfortably within the community. To have the ability to talk about the past, present, and future without feeling out of place.
Many of your works involve different layers, such as video, collage, textiles, music and more. Do you think of these as a metaphor?
Yes, I always say that there’s so much for me to learn and explore about my culture – as I don’t have it all set in one place. And with every project I work on it feels like I’m working with layers of knowledge, memories, stories and facts.
Your piece Fruits of Meditation was inspired by your father’s ritual to disconnect from the outside world. What was this ritual and do you feel like you’ve adopted your own way of disconnecting?
The ritual was my father sitting in the living room every morning, closing his eyes, and saying names of fruits, while doing squeezing motions with his hands, and my siblings and I would sit behind him and copy him.
Do you feel like you’ve adopted your own way of disconnecting?
Yes, and I feel like I started thinking of it from my father’s perspective after sitting with him to talk about ways of disconnecting for this project.
Say Mon Dawo II is a series of self-portraits constructed with collected fabrics where you revisit your Hausa/Fulani identity. How did this project feel to create?
Sai Mun Dawo — although spelt incorrectly at the time of making it — means “until we return” referencing my desire to visit Nigeria, to reconnect, and learn more about the cultural fragments I carry. I enjoyed connecting the things I grew up with and learnt as an adult. Although it was challenging to portray them in portraits the process felt tender and intimate. Half of the photos in the series were shot a week after my grandmother’s funeral, using her fabrics, which my aunts handed down to me. That was the most intense period of making the project.
Is there something you’re especially interested in exploring next in your practice?
There are a few themes I want to explore, but I’ll keep them a secret for now 🙂
Where can people find you?
They can find me on my instagram @sum088 — I post my progress with projects, fun stuff, and sometimes even thoughts. And my work will be part of the upcoming Lagos Photo Biennale. 🙂
