Siren Songs
curated by Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju
In the context of Creamcake: Is it cold in the water?
with Savanna Morgan • Jazmina Figueroa • Nadia Marcus • Luzie Meyer
Liquidrom, Möckernstraße 10, 10963 Berlin
10 May, 2024
9:00 - 11:30 AM
“[The Sirens] ‘render man happy and fulfilled by making him knowledgeable. They tempt him by promising to gratify his lust, provide him with supreme refreshment, and lead him to the ultimate adventure. In other words, they offer to make him immortal, a god…”- Meri Lao
Siren mythology is slippery, intertwining, and changing shape as it weaves through various oceans, cultures, and eras. Though it is widely understood that the half-bird, half-woman creatures of Greek mythology used their beauty and enchanting song to lure men to their death, it wasn’t actually their bodies that drawn them in, but their knowledge. Much like Biblical Eve’s temptation, the siren operates as a primordial memory of the fall of man, a warping of the female image into a villain, scapegoat, or monster of the deep. Over time, their portrayal underwent a sea-change, merging with various interpretations of mermaid folklores across cultures worldwide. In the Ethiopian Coptic language, the water spirit ‘Mami Wata,’ or ‘Mother Water,’ is believed to combine the words ‘mama,’ representing truth, knowledge, and wisdom, and ‘uat-ur’ meaning ocean water.
The misinterpretation of sirens as either pale, doting amphibious beings yearning only to give their love to touch-starved sailors, or as vengeful ocean spirits who delight in men’s watery demise, reflects an insidious limitation within the patriarchal and colonial imagination. Recognizing sirens as misunderstood agents of wisdom and dissidents against oppression, Siren Songs brings together four women writers and performers who find a special power in the voice and words, wielding its resonant and transmutative potential to challenge flattened, binaric views of beauty, knowledge, and female* interiority. This event asks audiences to listen closely to the inner songs of these readers, to not shrink away from the sharp edge of their words, allowing them to cleanse collective wounds.
Savanna Morgan probes the connection between descendents of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and ancestral memories tied to the Atlantic ocean. Jazmina Figueroa studies the spiral-bound structure of seashells as a metaphor and marker of chaos. Nadia Marcus performs a selection of aquatic poems that take the characteristics of water as definitive to their thematics, composition, or recitation. Luzie Meyer presents a sonically-rich poetry performance that draws on both the liquid’s immersive and disquieting qualities.
In this context, the siren becomes a longing vessel, a deep well holding our fears and dreams and seeds of resistance against a colonial hellscape. Her song might then be understood, not as a weapon of destruction but as a tool to destabilize the bedrock of an unjust present, and as a peace offering to the deep unknown.”
— Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, 2024
Image credit: Ink Agop ©️ Creamcake