This diptych uses archival footage from the EYE Film Museum and the GDR Film Der kleine Kuno (1959) to create two narratives. The narrative of the colonial past is framed through the alphabet of violence which is contrasted with the alphabet of freedom. Using cinematic strategies with newly filmed footage, the two screens create an opportunity to reflect on how images might be decolonised to imagine a future in which black masculinity might be redefined.
The Crown Against Mafavuke
Uriel Orlow
2016, 30'50'', Michaelis Galleries, Upper Gallery
The Crown Against Mafavuke is based on a South African trial from 1940 against a traditional herbalist accused of 'untraditional behaviour'. The film explores the ideological and commercial confrontation between two different yet intertwining medicinal traditions and their uses of plants, with slippages across gender and race. Working from the dual vantage points of South Africa and Europe, Orlow considers plants as both witnesses and actors in history.
