PLATEAU

2021, two-channel video, colour, sound, 27’

Courtesy of the artist, and Fondazione in Between Art Film

Commissioned and produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film for the exhibition “Penumbra,” 21/04/2022 – 27/11/2022, Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Venice. Additional support by African Culture Fund, Mali. With thanks to Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination

KARIMAH ASHADU

Karimah Ashadu (1985, United Kingdom) practice is concerned with labour, patriarchy and notions of independence pertaining to the social, economic and cultural context of Nigeria and West Africa.

Plateau depicts a group of undocumented, self-employed tin miners in Nigeria’s Jos Plateau region, striving to make a living out of an impoverished and unstable land as well as precarious and often life-threatening working conditions. Plateau merges a lyrical and investigative exploration of the relation between the landscape and the corporeal, with the majestic presence of the cactus symbolically conjuring both in its endurance to harsh surroundings. Male bodies are seen strenuously sifting mud and moving buckets of water in repetitive, brushstroke-like gestures. Yet, rather than romanticizing, the film stays close to these fatigued workers, whose determined gestures courageously attend to the land utilizing inherited manual techniques and re-mine what the British colonial regime left after it exploited Nigeria in its complex, century-long, violent occupation. Their testimonies, together with those of local villagers and landowners, document the economic collapse of the region in the aftermath of British corporations’ decommission as well as the newly found opportunities to pursue their community’s independence.

Plateau premiered at Secession, Vienna, in 2021 on the occasion of the artist’s solo exhibition.