Nari Ward's 'Until That Day' at DESTE Foundation's Slaughterhouse on Hydra

Nari Ward's exhibition 'Until That Day' is on view at the DESTE Foundation Project Space in the former slaughterhouse on the Greek island of Hydra through October 31, 2026. The show engages with Haile Selassie's 1963 address to the United Nations, which was famously adapted by Bob Marley in his song 'War'. Ward does not illustrate the speech directly; instead, its language appears in fragments across the installation, through objects, sound, and text. The exhibition includes a standing figure bound in dark red strapping, with packed suitcases visible underneath, illuminated by fluorescent tubes. Three sound-system towers wrapped in the same red webbing are installed in adjoining doorways, referencing Ward's Jamaican background and sound-system culture. Red banners along the wall-to-ceiling seam spell out words from the speech such as 'Discredited,' 'Inferior,' 'Abandoned,' 'Pursued,' 'Illusion,' and 'Attained,' requiring visitors to connect them as they move through the space. The former slaughterhouse's raw concrete, iron beams, and arched windows remain an active part of the encounter. The exhibition also situates these historical references within contemporary Greece, where migration and citizenship are ongoing social issues, and includes the participation of Afro-Greek musicians. Outside, a ship's anchor bound in red weave faces the strait, extending the installation to the surrounding sea. The work connects themes of movement, displacement, and collective memory.