Banksy in Ukraine

 

Talking about the French "New Wave" in cinema...

 

Thanks, BIMM Bristol, for having me.

BREATHLESS - Directed by Jean-Luc Godard - Trailer

Psychology

 

Communal Narcissists:

Spoilers of everything I did in the past 20 years...

 

1 October 2022—8 January 2023

John Akomfrah – Mimesis: African Soldier

Mimesis: African Soldier by John Akomfrah uncovers the undiscussed story of the Commonwealth soldiers who volunteered to fight in World War I: the war of their colonial masters.

Akomfrah blends archive imagery of African and Asian soldiers at work, digging trenches and fetching and carrying with original, newly filmed footage imagining the men as they leave their partners behind.

With a soundtrack that mixes African and Indian song with new compositions, John Akomfrah paints a vivid cinematic portrait of a forgotten, or overlooked history.

“The most important thing for me, the takeaway, is that African soldiers fought in this war, that they played a variety of roles in the war as foot soldiers, as carriers. Every facet, every avenue, every job in the war, if you look long enough, you will see someone of either Asian or African origin/heritage in that role.” – John Akomfrah

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The film is 73 minutes long. 

Mimesis: African Soldier was commissioned by 14-18 NOW and shown at the Imperial War Museum to mark the centenary of World War I. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery jointly acquired the film in partnership with Glasgow Museums in 2019. The exhibition is sponsored by UWE Bristol.

Exhibition clip:

November thoughts

  Dear readers,

Now that both Facebook and Twitter are so irrelevant, old-fashioned blogging looks like a safer space for self-expression.

As we enter the last two months of the year, the impression, looking back, for a journalist and writer focusing on the Global South and North/South relations, culture and multiculturalism, migrations and human rights, it wasn't a great year to say the least.

To make things worse, on a personal level, it was quite a difficult one, health-wise firstly, and secondly with the heartbreak of witnessing the spiralling downfall of my second nation, Britain. 

I've been writing a lot more on arts and writers in the past six months, in order to foster hope and solutions more than negative news, and you know how heavy the latest has been since the start of the war in Ukraine.

We all thought that recovering from the Covid crisis would be hard, but we couldn't imagine it would be this hard... The climate crisis has been seriously aggravated by the war, drought, hunger, and more health crises are striking the South, while the North is in serious recession coupled with high inflation and people's panic.

On Wednesday, I was invited to give a lecture to master's students in Paris, on an important news story, and I chose to speak about the state of Europe, through the lens of the post-Brexit British crisis, and this week hasn't helped anyhow. It would be too long to summarise here the talk I gave though I wish I could...

What makes things harder is to have lost the support of so many people this year too.

Many have had their own difficulties to deal with, I admit. And I hope one or two will eventually reappear. But for most others I don't even know where to start when it comes to fathom the rift.... 

Meanwhile, the state of the media, especially in France, really worries me.

As I hate being negative, and my brain is wired for idealism, I will try hard to come back with better news.

In the meantime, I'll focus on art and cinema history, creativity and resistance to all forms of fascism...

I'll be in England soon and hope for some heartwarming reunion. 

Friendship is more important than ever.

While I'm in Blighty, good luck to the ones getting reading to cover these mid term elections in the US.

With hope, always,

m

Feature on 10 years of African art in London: With Grada Kilomba, Nu Barreto and Touria el Glaoui - BBC Culture

 

My first piece for BBC Culture: 

ART | ART HISTORY

The slave ship in a London courtyard

By Melissa Chemam13th October 2022

A new installation of 140 blocks of wood summons up a forgotten history, writes Melissa Chemam.

Laid out on the stone courtyard of London's Somerset House, like the fossilised remains of a whale, there is the outline of a slave ship. Made up of 140 blocks of charred wood, it is O Barco / The Boat by Grada Kilomba, a Portuguese writer and interdisciplinary artist of African descent (from Sao Tome and Angola). Forming the shape of the bottom of a boat, the piece references the slave ships that carried for centuries millions of Africans, enslaved by European empires. The blocks also contain poems in six different languages, inscribed on the surface. "Addressing the history of European maritime expansion and colonisation, the piece invites the audience to consider forgotten stories and identities," the curators explain; the civil administration responsible for the British Royal Navy was once based at Somerset House.

Read here: 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20221012-the-slave-ship-in-a-london-courtyard 

Iran, with all women

 

Iran 

By Mahdiye Farhad 

#MahsaAmini

Afrika Eye - Nov. 2022

Happy to announce that I'll be participating to the festival Afrika Eye in Bristol in November 2022: 

  

“Afrika Eye 2022 is in our sights" We’re back for our 16th edition of the festival with a programme jam-packed with films, dance, music, food, panel discussions and a stunning photography exhibition. Artists from across Africa and within the diaspora bring insights, creative ideas and extraordinary projects, which broaden and enrich our knowledge of a continent that has for centuries been part of our shared histories without ever having an equal voice – ‘Untold Stories’ gives artists a platform to tell it how it is. Annie Menter Festival Director

Art & Activism

Tuesday 8th November 6:30pm

Cinema Room (G.H01), 3-5 Woodland Road.

University of Bristol

BS8 1US

Ouméma paints graffiti, Chaima dances, Shams performs slam poetry. Three young women, of the Tunisian revolution, who share the struggle for women’s freedom in their country. They lead a peaceful fight, through their practice, with the street as their stage, they aim to recapture this space, largely occupied by men in Tunisia. Their commitment to their art means that their daily lives fluctuate between fear, hope, creativity and a thirst for freedom.

We will be joined by director Caroline Péricard, journalist Melissa Chemam, documentary protagonist Oumema and young film students for a post-screening discussion.

Chair: Professor Siobhan Shilton.

This event is a partnership between UoB, Future Cities and Boomsatsuma

Doors 6:30pm

Start 7pm

Tickets £6

Buy Tickets

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Details here:

https://www.afrikaeye.org.uk/art-and-activism

General programme of the festival:

https://www.afrikaeye.org.uk/programme

The song of the current Iranian uprising... Shervin - 'Baraye'

 

And what a beautiful song...

Posted on 27 Sept. 2022

Shervin - 'Baraye' | شروین - برای

According to The Guardian:

The lyrics to Baraye by Shervin Hajipour are taken from ordinary Iranians voicing their anger in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death

As demonstrations against the death of Mahsa Amini enter their third week in Iran, a protest song by one of Iran’s most popular musicians has become the soundtrack to the biggest civil uprising for decades, channelling the rage of Iranians at home and abroad.

The lyrics to Baraye by Shervin Hajipour are taken entirely from messages that Iranians have posted online about why they are protesting. Each begins with the word Baraye – meaning “For …” or “Because of …” in Farsi.

Hajipour released the song online last week and it quickly went viral, being viewed millions of times across various platforms. Videos show the song being sung by schoolgirls in Iran, blared from car windows in Tehran and played at solidarity protests in Washington, 
Strasbourg and London this weekend.

Hajipour, 25, was reportedly arrested on 29 September, days after the song was released. According to messages posted on Twitter by Hajipour’s sister and reverified by Human Rights Watch, the intelligence services in Mazandaran province called Hajipour’s parents and informed them of his arrest on 1 October.

Sources close to Hajipour believe the singer was made to remove the song from Instagram when he was arrested. It has since been registered as having been written by someone else, allowing copyright infringement complaints to be made, resulting in the song being removed by platforms it had been uploaded to. However, the song has already been widely shared and continues to be uploaded by users on YouTube.

“This [song] has broken Persian social media tonight. So many of us have cried listening to it over and over. The artist Shervin Hajipour has summed up the deep national sadness and pain Iranians have been feeling for decades, culminating in the tragedy of #MahsaAmini,” BBC correspondent Bahman Kalbasi said.

(...)

In the song, Hajipour sings lyrics such as, “For dancing in the streets, for kissing loved ones” and “for women, life, freedom”, a chant synonymous with the wave of protests following Amini’s death.

The lyrics to Baraye reflect widespread anger and misery, just as Amini’s death was the tipping point for many after the regime engaged in a concerted crackdown on alleged anti-Islamic activity. Enforcement has included the heightened presence of guidance patrol – also known as morality police – on the streets.

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English Translation:

For the sake of dancing in the street

For the fear in the moment of kissing

For my sister, your sister, our sisters

For changing the eroded brains

For the shame, For the poverty

For the yearning for a normal life

For the sake of the poor child that searches in the garbage, and their dreams

For this authoritarian economy

For this polluted air

For Vali-'asr and the withered trees

For Piruz and his probable extinction

For the innocent forbidden dogs

For the non-stop crying

For the dream of reminiscing about this moment in history

For a laughing face

For the students, For the future

For this mandatory “paradise” 

For the imprisoned intellectuals

For the Afghan children

For all of this, For the lack of repetition 

For all this hollow slogans

For the ruins of these badly-built houses 

For the feeling of peace and tranquility

For the sun after long nights

For the mental illness pills and insomnia

For men, fatherland, prosperity

For the sake of the girl that wished she was a boy

For women, life, freedom

For freedom

For freedom

For freedom

Farsi: 

برای توی کوچه رقصیدن

برای ترسیدن به وقت بوسیدن

برای خواهرم خواهرت خواهرامون

برای تغییر مغزها که پوسیدن

برای شرمندگی برای بی پولی

برای حسرت یک زندگی معمولی

برای کودک زباله‌گرد و آرزوهاش

برای این اقتصاد دستوری

برای این هوای آلوده

برای ولیعصرو درختای فرسوده

برای پیروزو احتمال انقراضش

برای سگ‌های بی‌گناه ممنوعه

برای گریه‌های بی‌وقفه

برای تصویر تکرار این لحظه

برای چهره‌ای که میخنده

برای دانش آموزا برای آینده

برای این بهشت اجباری

برای نخبه‌های زندانی

برای کودکان افغانی

برای این همه برای غیر تکراری

برای این همه شعارهای توخالی

برای آوار خانه‌های پوشالی

برای احساس آرامش

برای خورشید پس از شبای طولانی

برای قرص‌های اعصاب و بی‌خوابی

برای مرد، میهن، آبادی

برای دختری که آرزو داشت پسر بود

برای زن، زندگی، آزادی

برای آزادی

برای آزادی

برای آزادی

Une critique de lecteur : "Vraiment un excellent bouquin de musique !"

 

Nicolino   25 juillet 2022 En dehors de la zone de confort - De Massive Attack à Bansky  de Melissa Chemam ★★★★★ "En dehors de la zone de confort - de Massive Attack à Banksy" de Mélissa Chemam raconte l'histoire de Massive Attack en commençant bien avant que le groupe n'existe, vers le début des années 80. C'est très détaillé, chaque album, morceau est analysé, les séances de studio et les tournées, et surtout les rapports pour le moins surprenant entre les membres du groupe et ceux qui gravitent autour. J'ai été scotché par 3D, sa créativité, pas seulement en musique d'ailleurs, est étonnante. Il y a visiblement un paquet de morceaux inédits, et pas des rebuts ! Comme ça part de 1980 et que ça va jusqu'à début 2016, c'est aussi une autre histoire de la musique anglaise, avec Bristol comme port d'attache, ça change de Londres et Manchester. Sans oublier tout le contexte social et politique. Les carrières de Portishead, Tricky et de quelques autres sont aussi racontées avec brio. L'autrice a visiblement interviewé tout le monde et pour certains, 3D par exemple, à plusieurs reprises. 3D dont le versant d'artiste street-art est bien abordé, et comme il est la principale influence de Banksy, autre Bristolien célèbre, ça parle aussi pas mal de ce dernier. Vraiment un excellent bouquin de musique !

https://www.babelio.com/auteur/Melissa-Chemam/435526/critiques