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PARIS
17 SEPTEMBER TO 22 NOVEMBER
Invited by Fondation H for a research and creation residency at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, Turakella Editha Gyindo is developing the project Testimonials for the body, presented at the parisian space of Fondation H from 17 September 2025.
The project explores the connections between bodies through the loofah sponge — a plant-based material used to clean the body, objects, and domestic spaces. In Tanzania, her home country, the loofah also holds symbolic significance as part of cleansing and care rituals. Turakella combines loofah with pumice stone — both natural, abrasive materials traditionally associated with care — to evoke stories linked to the body, especially Black bodies. Using rough, abrasive materials to speak of care reflects a tension: that of healing marked by pain. This Paris residency allows her to expand her research across other cultural contexts, weaving links between communities through everyday objects. The installation, unfolding across both floors of the parisian space of Fondation H, becomes a site for storytelling, connection, and healing.
Christelle Bakima Poundza has been invited by Fondation H to write the exhibition text for Testimonials for the body.
BIOGRAPHY OF TURAKELLA EDITHA GYINDO
Turakella Editha Gyindo (Tura) is a multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. After completing her university studies in Algeria, she joined the Nafasi Art Space Academy in Dar es Salaam in 2021 to pursue the Curatorial Practice and Art Management program and participated in the 2021 East African Biennale.
Since then, Tura has worked as an independent curator in Tanzania, organizing numerous exhibitions and artist residency projects, including with Mazi Arts and the Goethe-Institut in Dar es Salaam. In May 2024, she became part of the Mentorship Program for East African Curators, supported by the Njabala Foundation, Independent Curators International, and AWARE.
Inspired by human nature and its adaptation to the perpetual and frenetic evolution of the world, she challenges collective preconceptions surrounding intersectionality, identity, and belonging. She is interested by the challenges and complexities of human existence, as well as how identity can transcend social norms. According to her People’s place in society is not only shaped by personal experiences but also by a profound connection to existence that goes beyond physical embodiment.
In early 2024, she presented her first solo exhibition, Mwanangu Kua Nikutume, at the Alliance Française in Dar es Salaam. From painting to performance, Tura experiments with a plurality of media, through which her work explores her experiences of femininity, isolation, emotions, and personal memories. Her personal history serves as a central thread in her practice, as she draws from her own memories to weave connections with emotions that resonate universally.
Through her work, Tura seeks to initiate a dialogue about the social and hierarchical norms that govern communities, highlighting the diversity of questions that arise in the quest for identity.