‘The Accursed Share’ at Talbot Rice Gallery Examines Colonial Debt and Land Struggles

The exhibition 'The Accursed Share' at Talbot Rice Gallery in Edinburgh, curated by James Clegg, takes its title from Georges Bataille's 1949 essay. It features works by nine artists and artist-groups including Cian Dayrit, Sammy Baloji, Marwa Arsanios, and Lubaina Himid. Dayrit's textile counter-maps explore land, capital, and militarization in the Philippines, referencing the arrest of over 90 individuals at Hacienda Tinang in Tarlac in July 2022 for engaging in bungkalan (cultivating idle land). Baloji's installation uses copper mortar-shell casings potted with plants from the DRC, highlighting colonial mineral extraction under King Leopold II. Arsanios's film 'Reverse Shot' documents transforming a private plot in Northern Lebanon into a social waqf under Ottoman Land Code. Himid's 'Naming the Money' recontextualizes enslaved Africans in European paintings. The exhibition focuses on historical roots of debt and colonization but neglects contemporary financial debt instruments like IMF structural adjustment programs. The text by Elisa Adami and Arianna Mercado critiques the metaphorical use of debt, questioning whether reparations could address exploitation.