Ancestral Wisdom - Ask an Ancestor

Ifeatu Nnaobi’s interactive installation Ancestral Wisdom – Ask an Ancestor invokes deeper questions of heritage and connection for Black and People of Colour living in the diaspora. Participants can engage in the project by verbally asking a question to a customised Artificial Intelligence platform.

The aim of this project was to provoke thinking about how we exist as part of families (biological or chosen) and communities (local or global).

Audiences speak to a little box asking it a question that they wish they could ask one of their ancestors. In return, they hear a pre-recorded response of an elder speaking about a question that they wish they could ask their own ancestor and why. The participants can repeat the experience as many times as they like.