with both hands·avec

les deux mains

Tate Britain, February 2026

NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_87.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_91.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_68.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_106.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_64.png
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_103.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_46.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_31.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_71 (1).JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_111.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_49.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_69.JPG
NU_WithBothHands_TATE_Feb2026_ph_FeniaKotsopoulou_61 (1).JPG

with both hands·avec les deux mains 

Searching through spiritual sovereignty, and colonial comfort psychoses. n:u (melissandre varin) composes this piece with ancestors and spirits from occupied territories such as mines in Democratic Republic of Congo. Attuning to African Indigenous knowledge systems, this work honours those lost to our violent ways to inhabit the Earth.

Companion-materials:

  • Thames river and Atlantic ocean waters

  • Rum owned by Béké (descendant of enslaver and colonialist plantation owners) 

  • Kaolin from Benin

  • Tate + Lyle sugar cane

  • Grandmother’s soutane

  • Pesticide sprayer

  • White tulips

Curator, Public Practice Tate Modern & Tate Britain: Joseph Morgan Schofield

Assistant Producer, Public Practice Tate Modern & Tate Britain: Ariel Haviland

Learning Programme Assistant at Tate: Jennifer van der Merwe

care support: Orphée Kashala

videography and editing: Baiba Sprance & Marco Berardi

Photographs: Fenia Kotsopoulou

credit: n:u (melissandre varin), with both hands·avec les deux mains, 2026. Tate: Land, Material, Memory, Performing Landscape. Photo by Fenia Kotsopoulou.

Next

Howlihuè