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# Nari Ward Revisits Haile Selassie’s 1963 UN Speech Through Found Materials
- URL: https://www.catapult-platform.art/nari-ward-deste-foundation/
- Published: 2026-08-24T03:22:05.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-24T03:22:04.000Z
- Description: An independent review of Nari Ward's Until That Day at DESTE Foundation's Slaughterhouse Project Space on Hydra, on view through Oct 31, 2026.
- Author: Dominique Catherina Foertig
- Tags: Exhibition, Memory & Identity, Material & Sculpture

## Nari Ward Brings Haile Selassie’s 1963 Speech Into the Slaughterhouse on Hydra

[**DESTE Foundation**](https://deste.gr/hydra/?ref=catapult-platform.art) presents **Nari Ward’s** *Until That Day* at the Slaughterhouse Project Space in Hydra, through October 31, 2026.

**Until That Day** 

**Artist:**  
Nari Ward

**Exhibition:**  
Until That Day

**Venue:**  
[ DESTE Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse ](https://deste.gr/hydra/nari-ward/?ref=catapult-platform.art) 

**City:**  
Hydra, Greece

**Dates:**  
June 23, 2026 – October 31, 2026

**Hours:**  
Daily 11:00–13:00 & 19:00–22:00 (18:00–21:00 in October). Closed Tuesdays, exception Tuesday June 23.

**Address:**  
Epar.Od. Mandrakiou-Molou, Hydra 18040, Greece

**Image Courtesy:**  
Courtesy DESTE Foundation

**Contact:**  
[info@deste.gr](mailto:info@deste.gr)

Haile Selassie’s 1963 address to the United Nations has continued to circulate long after it was delivered, most famously through Bob Marley’s song *War*. 

In *Until That Day*, [**Nari Ward**](https://www.nariwardstudio.com/?ref=catapult-platform.art) returns to the speech without illustrating it directly. Its language instead moves through the exhibition in fragments, objects and sound, connecting the historical address to the conditions in which the work is encountered today.

![Catapult contemporary art platform Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. A red strap-bound totem beneath a raised red text banner quoting a 1963 speech.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-installation-01.png)

****Nari Ward**, Until That Day, installation view, ****DESTE Foundation** Project Space, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

The building remains an active part of that encounter. Bare concrete holds the heat of the day into the evening, iron beams cut low across the ceiling, and arched windows built for ventilation rather than light throw square patterns onto the floor. 

The former slaughterhouse gives Ward’s materials a direct setting in which the history and physical character of the space remain clearly present.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. A towering red woven strap figure bound around packed luggage under fluorescent light.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-hero-1.webp)

Nari Ward, Until That Day, installation view, DESTE Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. Close view of the woven totem's head, dark red straps crossed over a rounded form.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-detail-01.webp)

****Nari Ward,** Until That Day, detail, ****DESTE Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse**, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. Three graduated red woven spheres lined up against a bare concrete wall.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-installation-02.webp)

****Nari Ward**, Until That Day, installation view, ****DESTE Foundation Project Space**, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

Selassie’s words form a central reference throughout the exhibition, but Ward does not present the speech as a historical document. Selected fragments instead appear across the installation and are encountered gradually as the visitor moves through the building.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. Three matching red and black sound system towers seen through stone doorways.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-installation-03.webp)

****Nari Ward**, Until That Day, installation view, **DESTE Foundation Project Space,** Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. Close view of a red banner with raised dot-pattern lettering spelling speech fragments.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-detail-02.webp)

Nari Ward, Until That Day, detail, DESTE Foundation Project Space, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

Near the entrance, a standing figure taller than anyone in the room is bound from head to base in dark red strapping, tightened and crossed around its surface. Underneath, the outlines of packed suitcases push against the weave. Fluorescent tubes illuminate the figure from above, while the straps extend toward the floor and spread across the tiles in a broad radial pattern.

Further in, three sound-system towers rise through a row of adjoining doorways, with cabinets and speaker cones wrapped in the same red webbing. Their scale and repetition connect sound with the materials that recur throughout the installation. Ward’s Jamaican background and his engagement with sound-system culture are visible here, while the work also connects to wider histories of movement, displacement and collective memory.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. A golden sun sculpture with a human face above the stone entrance building.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-installation-04.webp)

****Nari Ward,** Until That Day, entrance installation view, ****DESTE Foundation Project Space,** Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. A dark wood domino table holding a printed quote card by the artist, sea behind.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-work-01.webp)

****Nari Ward,** Until That Day, detail view, ****DESTE Foundation Project Space**, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. Close view of dark wooden domino tiles bound together with a rubber band.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-detail-04.webp)

****Nari Ward**, Until That Day, detail, ****DESTE Foundation Project Space,** Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

Running along the wall-to-ceiling seam throughout the building, red banners spell out fragments in raised dot-pattern lettering. Discredited. Inferior. Abandoned. Pursued. Illusion. Attained. The words are taken from Selassie’s address and appear separately across the space, requiring visitors to encounter and connect them while moving through the exhibition.

The exhibition also places these historical references within the contemporary setting of Greece, where migration, citizenship and belonging remain part of the wider social context. 

The participation of Afro-Greek musicians in the project further connects Ward’s installation to experiences situated within the country rather than treating the speech only as a historical reference.

![Exhibition review of Nari Ward: Until That Day at DESTE Foundation, Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026. A ship's anchor wrapped in red woven strapping on a terrace above the sea.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/08/nari-ward-until-that-day-deste-slaughterhouse-hydra-2026-work-02.webp)

****Nari Ward,** Until That Day, detail view, ****DESTE Foundation Project Space,** Slaughterhouse, Hydra, 2026\. Courtesy the artist.

Outside, on the terrace above the water, a ship’s anchor is bound in the same red weave and positioned toward the strait crossed by boats approaching and leaving Hydra. 

The work extends the installation beyond the interior of the Slaughterhouse and brings Ward’s recurring materials into direct contact with the island and the surrounding sea. The anchor introduces associations with movement, arrival and restraint while leaving its meaning open.  

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### **stay connected, keep the art in motion**

[**DESTE Foundation on Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/destefoundation/?ref=catapult-platform.art)  
[**Nari Ward on Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/nariward/?ref=catapult-platform.art)

**About Catapult Contemporary - Art Platform Submission**

This is a exhibition review published by Catapult — an independent editorial platform for contemporary art, based in Vienna. We publish exhibition reviews, artist features, interviews, and critical context, with a focus on emerging and mid-career practices from Europe and beyond.  
[catapult.art](https://www.catapult-platform.art/) 

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