Bisi Silva (1962–2019) and Sasha Huber crossed paths during Bisi’s Helsinki residency in the mid-2000s. At that point Huber was already living there. They stayed in touch over the years, collaborating on a photography biennale in China in 2017, and Huber contributed her artist books to the CCA library.
During her residency at G.A.S. in December 2025, Huber created a portrait in memory and honour of Bisi Silva, presenting it as a gift to the CCA.
This portrait was unveiled during CCA’s 18th anniversary in December 2025.It is part of Huber’s ongoing series, The Firsts. Launched in 2017, it comprises commemorative portraits paying homage to pioneering ancestral figures, particularly women from Africa and Africans in diaspora.
The series suggests that even today, individuals can still be among “The First” Black people to achieve specific milestones across various fields and nations. Silva was herself a pioneer, part of an early generation of African curators active on a global scale. Throughout her lifetime, she uplifted and supported many artists, leaving a lasting impact. It is beautiful to see how her legacy remains alive and continues to resonate.
Who is Sasha Huber? Shasha Huber is a Helsinki-based visual artist of Swiss-Haitian heritage whose work explores the politics of memory, belonging, and care in relation to colonial legacies. Bridging history and the present, she engages with archival material through a layered practice spanning reparative interventions, film, photography, and collaboration.
Known for using a staple gun – a tool symbolically resonant as both weapon and means of repair—it becomes a method of stitching together colonial wounds.
Huber holds an MA in visual culture from Aalto University in Helsinki and is currently pursuing a practice-based PhD in artistic research at the Zurich University of the Arts.
From 2021 to 2024, her touring exhibition “You Name It”, organised by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto in collaboration with Autograph in London, marked a significant chapter in her ongoing international practice and was accompanied by a monograph of the same title, published by Mousse Publishing.
Caption for the artwork: Sasha Huber, The Firsts – Bisi Silva (1962-2019), metal staples on painted wood, 2025. Gifted by Sasha Huber.
Caption for photo of me at the residency: Sasha Huber at the G.A.S. Foundation artist residency where she made the work during December 2025.
