Living with Ghosts: A Reader

Featuring republished texts by seminal theorists of the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as newly commissioned essays by some of today’s leading artists and writers, Living with Ghosts: A Reader is an important, thought-provoking work published to coincide with the exhibition guest curated by KJ Abudu at Pace in London.

Living With Ghosts explores the ways the unresolved traumas of Africa’s colonial past, and its unfulfilled project of decolonisation, continue to haunt the present global order. The reader further expands on these complex ideas through philosophical, historical, and literary approaches. Reprinted texts by thinkers such as Achille Mbembe, C.L.R. James, and Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni explore the historical experiences of the African postcolony and the problematics of decolonisation. Meditations on artists including John Akomfrah and Abraham Oghobase provide engaging entry points to their multi-layered artistic practices. Also featured is an in-depth conversation between Bouchra Khalili and KJ Abudu as well as newly commissioned texts by Adjoa Armah and Joshua Segun-Lean. Illustrated throughout the reader are artworks included in the exhibition by Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Torkwase Dyson, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Bouchra Khalili, Abraham Oghobase, Cameron Rowland and Tako Taal.

The introduction to the reader can be viewed here.

Publication Details:

Texts by Achille Mbembe, Jacques Derrida, C.L.R. James, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, KJ Abudu, Emmanuel Iduma, Walter D. Mignolo, Avery F. Gordon, Adjoa Armah, Joshua Segun-Lean. Conversation with Bouchra Khalili and KJ Abudu
Design by Johanne Lian Olsen
2022
Paperback
160 pages
9.5 x 6.75 in

The reader is available for purchase directly from Pace Gallery, Bookshop, Amazon, Printed Matter, McNally Jackson, Artbook at MoMA PS1, Tenderbooks, New Museum Store, CARA, and other venues in Europe, the US, Nigeria, and South Africa.