Between 1904 and 1908, the German colonial army waged a war of extermination against the Ovaherero and Nama peoples in what was then German South-West Africa.
Image gallery
Shar Island
Thousands of survivors were deported to concentration camps, where forced labour, starvation, disease and systematic violence claimed the lives of thousands more.
Shark Island, off the coast of Lüderitz, became a death camp – the first of the 20th century. Those who died there were denied even a dignified burial. More than a century on, Shark Island remains a contested site of remembrance and is now under threat from a large-scale ‘green hydrogen’ infrastructure project being driven forward with the support of the German government.
The exhibition centres on the series ‘Traces of Violence’ (2021) by Marcelo Brodsky. It consists of thirty historical photographs reworked by the artist. Brodsky himself is a descendant of Jewish exiles who fled to Argentina to escape anti-Semitic persecution in Tsarist Russia. His work emerged from the traumas of political exile during the Argentine dictatorship.
Texts and a video by Forensic Architecture and Forensis, produced in collaboration with the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) and the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), reconstruct the history and geography of the concentration camp.
A series of lectures, discussions, film screenings and guided tours accompanies the exhibition and sheds light on the historical connections between colonialism, militarism, fascism, memory and today’s struggles for justice.
‘The Unburied. Traces of Violence’ at roam projects ends on 15 November, the anniversary of the opening of the Congo Conference in Berlin in 1884, whose final act established the framework for the partition of Africa into European colonies.
The Unburied. Traces of Violence
An exhibition by Marcelo Brodsky, featuring works by Forensis and Forensic Architecture
- 11 October – 15 November 2026
- Opening hours: Thu–Sat, 3.00 pm–6.00 pm and by appointment
- Opening: Sun, 11 October, 10.00–13.00, 12.00 discussion with the artist and the curator
- Closing event: Sun 15 November, 4.00 pm
The exhibition is curated by Prof. Dr Márcio Seligmann-Silva.
