Excerpt from Les Somme De Nous (2024)

LES SOMME DE NOUS (The Sum of Us, 2024) is a contemplative audiovisual work by Lilah Benetti that reimagines identity beyond Western frameworks, tracing the intricate relationships between language, selfhood, and place. Developed over a six-month journey through Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal, the work explores the historical presence of gender non-conformity within traditional spiritual practices, while also engaging with the complexities of contemporary political landscapes across these regions. At its heart, Les Somme de Nous is a living archive — one shaped by quiet encounters, intimate interviews, and the subtle textures of daily life. It foregrounds the role of non-men in sustaining cultural and spiritual lineages, positioning individual presence as both resistance and possibility.

Through layered sound and image, the work invites viewers into a deeply personal journey, one that asks how the global diaspora might shape more inclusive and liberated futures. Rather than offering answers, it holds space for reflection. How do we honour the voices that have long been silenced? Who remains excluded from collective imaginings of freedom? And what, ultimately, is the sum of us?
Les Somme de Nous has been exhibited across major institutions in Africa, Australia, the UK, and North America. Most recently, it was featured at Tate Britain’s History Reverberates: Portraits of Identity (2025), and at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (2025) — a testament to its resonant inquiry into belonging, memory, and cultural inheritance.

Lilah Benetti, Les Sommes de Nous (The Sum of Us), 2024, single-channel digital video, high-definition colour, sound; 08:33 minutes. Original footage shot by Lilah Benetti on analogue film and tape. Original experimental score Composed by Lilah Benetti and Sound Designer Rei Ha Ra. Featuring interviews with Togbe, Colonel Abdoulaye Ndiaye, Professor Serigne Mor Mbaye, Julien Kalipe, Raki Cis, Bachita Banasse, Khaoula Ksiksi. End drums and vocals by Ndeye Seck and Raki Cis. Supported by Creative Victoria, Ian Potter Foundation, Ubuntu Australia, Black Rock Senegal, The City of Melbourne. English subtitles (French available on request).
Location: Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal.