Gouled Ahmed

Even the Dawn Song Arrives After the Storm

Gouled Abdishakour Ahmed is a visual artist, costume designer, and filmmaker based in Djibouti, Africa, exploring memory and belonging through self-portraiture, film, and textile art.

‘Even the Dawn Song Arrives After the Storm’ asks, “How do we tell stories of defiance?” Ahmed looks at ways of concealing and disguising the body, from ceremonial masks to garments designed to prevent recognition. Drawing on these practices, the work explores how clothing and disguise can become tools of resistance against state surveillance. Throughout the works, Ahmed thinks about what it means to cloak, shapeshift, and become chimeric.