Review: Superpower:
Africa in Science Fiction
5 May – 1 July 2012
the Arnolfini,
Bristol
Still from Pumzi, (2009), directed by Wanuri Kahiu
I must be honest; I
did not think that this exhibition would be my sort of thing at all. I do not
have a particular interest in Science Fiction, and have certainly never
pondered on the presence of Africa in popular science-fiction. However, I found
this exhibition to be thought provoking, at times tender, sometimes violent,
and intermittently dispersed with humour.
The theme of
Science Fiction has been used by artists and filmmakers to address the complex
issues of an often misunderstood continent. A continent, as displayed in Omer
Fast's three part film installation Nostalgia,(2009),
which the Western World judges sometimes wrongly. In the final film in the
installation, a retro-futuristic film shows at West African colony increasingly
hostile to asylum seekers from a dystopian Britain. One of the female West
African characters states how she has been to Britain to help with aid work,
and states of the population that they are a proud and ancient culture, and ‘good
at dancing’. This part made me cringe as a white British person, only too aware
of how in the past, and even now, Africa and its people has been patronized and
subjugated to racial stereotypes by the West.
Another highlight
for me was two early Neill Blomkamp short films, Alive in Joburg (2005) and Tetra
Vaal, (2004). The films again made the viewer question how societies treat
outsiders. To make the film Alive in
Joburg, Blomkamp interviewed real people about the influx of immigrants
into Johannesburg. Their answers were then edited to appear to be commentary on
unwanted aliens by a scared local population.
The last work in the exhibition, and again one of my
favourites was a short 21 minute film titled Pumzi, directed by Wanuri Kahiu. The film is a rare example of African science fiction. Having
been brought up on science fiction in with an almost all Western and all white
cast I found it strange to watch a film where the only white character was a servant.
The film is set on a post apocalyptic world where the “Maitu Community” are
living below ground. The heroine is a museum curator who is delivered soil in
which she plants a old seed, which then germinates immediately. She rebels against
the council to escape outside and plant the seed. I found the film beautiful,
haunting and sadly a possible reality in terms of the themes of water shortage
and mis management of natural resources.
I have only touched upon my own highlights of this exhibition,
but I would certainly recommend anyone to visit the Arnolifini before it
closes. It will leave you with a different view of science fiction, and a
renewed or perhaps changed view of Africa, and indeed humanity itself.
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