Until That Day addresses the social and political realities of the African population in Greece, a community that has lived in the region throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For the exhibition at the Slaughterhouse on Hydra, I invited Aggelos Aggelou—a singer whose music reflects the storied traditions of the Greek folk genre rebetika—as well as other Afro-Greek musicians to perform a response to the 1963 address by His Majesty Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, to the United Nations, a speech in which he pleads for global cooperation between nations. The title of the exhibition takes its name from Selassie’s refrain: “until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.” Selassie’s warning—which Bob Marley adapted in the lyrics to his 1976 song “War”—was that humanity will never reach its full potential unless we recognize and uplift each other across national and racial boundaries. This has resonances across world history, including the present-day alienation and disenfranchisement of African immigrants and refugees within Greek society. It is my hope—especially as the world plunges deeper into nationalism and xenophobia—that this project will shine a light not only on the struggles of the Afro-Greeks but also on their vibrant and varied cultural contributions. Their presence in this country makes it stronger; we will sing of it “until that day” it is embraced.

—Nari Ward