Hum II by Hajra Waheed at Sharjah Biennale 15

Hum II by Hajra Waheed at Sharjah Biennale 15

Highly acclaimed and celebrated, Sharjah Art Foundation’s #SB15 exhibited works by artists from all over the world. One of the most visited parts of the biennale was a 2023 iteration of Hum by Hajra Waheed. All the way to Sharjah, Ismail Noor and John Gatapia captured and conveyed the essence of a monumental piece.

Hum II (2023) is a musical composition and multichannel sound installation. The work specifically reflects on women’s leadership in the struggles of working people, the marginalized and the dispossessed and how their participation is rarely made visible, let alone amplified or centred. Consisting entirely of voice, the composition features seven songs that have been central to popular uprisings, mass social movements and anti-colonial struggles across the Americas, Africa and Asia where women have been at the forefront. Expanding on Hum (2020), this second volume housed within a conical sound chamber, continues to explore humming and other vocal practices as a means for centring intersectional solidarity struggles currently taking place.