Transforming Colonial Photographs Through Cyanotype and Audio Cassettes

Italian-Somali artist and researcher Leyla Degan, in dialogue with Naima Hassan of SITAAD, discusses the project Transmigrating Cassettes, which recontextualizes photographs of a Somali troupe taken by Ellis Island clerk Augustus Sherman in 1914. Degan uses cyanotype printing to create veiled, blue-toned images that evoke the Somali flag and the Indian Ocean, emphasizing protection and dignity. The project also employs audio cassettes—a familiar medium in Somali diaspora culture—to circulate the troupe's story outside institutional control. Degan's series 'Ilaalin; Waan Ku Ilaalin Doona' (2023) features the Xirsi (protection necklace) as a symbol of spiritual memory and resistance against colonial confiscation. The work engages with 'dark archives'—deportation case files and colonial collections—to challenge extractive histories. A public programme in Minneapolis and New York (August–September 2023) included workshops on identifying photographic processes. The project draws on scholars like Simone Browne, Tina Campt, and Erica Scourti to critique provenance and opacity.