i ain't from no east coast

i ain't from no east coast, but my story rises from eastern Germany and Afro-German dreams handed down through generations while being bound by socialist treaties and the reimagination of promises in a new capitalist order after the Wall’s collapse.

When you’re constantly asked where you come from, 

it leads you to think more deeply about it.

It was the time, it was the place.

A couple in a Saxon bar,

between Cold and civil war,

between ethnicities and ethics,

between plans and economy,

between dreams and promises.

I Have a Dream

Dismantled with the wall:

Promises, Norms, Patterns.

and then – what then

the show is over.

The dream remains

let’s go home.

enduring generations.

I'm located at the end of two cultures.

not negative, 

neutral

looking towards something new,

something uncertain.

"As the generation of East German Millennials, those born into or raised during the upheaval of the post-reunification era, comes of age, a growing engagement with the collective (post-)GDR past is taking shape. 

But what does it mean to be born into such a fragile system as the child of a white mother and a Black father? A system marked by unemployment, uncertainty, and a rise in right-wing extremism? Verdiana Albano explores these layered questions through the lens of her own biography. Drawing on her parents’ Stasi files as well as both personal and institutional visual archives, she investigates her own fragmented and secret-laden Afro-European history.

In her pursuit of a multi-ethnic identity, Albano navigates the space between staging and documentation, tracing issues such as postcolonialism through an intersectional perspective and her position as an Artist of Colour in a society undergoing transformation." - Franziska Kunze, Pinakothek der Moderne

“Afrofuturism is not a distant utopia – it is lived reality. It merges speculative thought with the creative reappropriation of Black histories, becoming both a political and poetic practice that generates visibility. Afrofuturism asks not only what will be, but also what was and what might have been. For Verdiana Albano, a camera produced in the GDR becomes not merely a symbol of “Ostalgia,” but a tool of autonomy and image control. As an Afrodiasporic artist, she interweaves her individual experiences with collective memories and visions of the future.” - Prof. Dr. Natasha Kelly, Prof. UDK Berlin, author and freelance curator

i ain't from no east coast

GDR, Angola, Germany

2024

While working on this series, I took a variety of approaches. I travelled to locations in the former GDR (VEB factory sites) with a Pentacon Six TL (Kodak Gold) and looked at what was left there. I also visited so-called GDR everyday life museums with my brother and I also worked with our family archive. Various impressions from texts, books, general and state photo archives, and films about the Afro-GDR are also reflected. The impressions were processed into collages on original GDR furniture and in layered 3D passe-partouts (print on passe-partout and cutouts (straight and organic)). 

The following exhibits are included in the series, though they may also be shown separately:

- 6x 4–7 layered 3D collages in Halbe frames with museum glass (60x60cm)

- A cathode-ray tube monitor + side table (ca. 50'')

- Carpet (different sizes)

- Printed window (75x50cm)

- Printed tile table (ca. 120 x 80 x 50 cm, Tiles: each 20x20cm)

- Original GDR armchair(40x40x100cm)

- Wallpaper print (150 × 100 cm)

- Printed tile (89 × 89 cm)

- Wallpaper print on removable wallpaper with optional wood paneling (self-adhesive) (different sizes)

- Printed display case (45x25x5cm)

- Hologram print (NY) (35x25x0,3cm)

I am happy to be present during installation, in consultation with the curators and organisers, and to take part in the accompanying program, as I do for most exhibitions.