********** English **********
'Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims' is the latest film in their Elemental Cinema
series, which began in 2016. This film focuses on air and follows the wind as it
moves and carries different things, using it as a guide and analytical tool.
Combining poetry and critical theory, the film offers a touching and emotional
perspective on global issues from both human and nonhuman perspectives. The
makers' goal is to challenge traditional ways of thinking about and relating to
the Earth, inherited from European colonial history.
The screening is followed by a conversation with Denise Ferreira Da Silva,
Arjuna Neuman and Kayah George.
The program continues on 27 June with a talk and seminar at Kunsthal Extra City
in Antwerp.
Films
Our Grandmother the Inlet
Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos and Kayah George, 2023
in English
A hybrid documentary film that examines the lives of Kayah George, a young
Indigenous woman, and her grandmother. Delving into their ancestral lineage, the
film takes you on a poignant journey as it highlights the significance of
Kayah’s deep connection to water, revered in the Tsleil-Waututh Nation as their
oldest grandmother and the birthplace of creation. Amidst the backdrop of
industry dominance, the film sheds light on Indigenous youth's mental health
challenges and their enduring spirit of gentle reclamation as they strive to
reconnect with their culture, water, and land as kin and relatives. With its
powerful imagery, infused with cultural nuances and the echoes of past and
present Indigenous-led struggles, this timely production carries a profound and
relevant message.
Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims
Arjuna Neuman and Denise Ferreira Da Silva, 2023, 50’.
in English & Spanish with English subtitles
A poetic exploration of the entanglements and overlaps of historical events in
the Atacama Desert (Chile), Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims, told from the
perspective of the wind, takes us on a visual journey through the many sites and
histories of the Atacama. Exploring some of the largest lithium mines in the
world; hovering above the remnants of colonial labor camps reactivated under the
Pinochet regime, and slipping inside the international observatory of the ALMA
large array facility; the filmmakers’ camera uncovers material trajectories
whose planetary scope and historical depths remain invisible to the many. By
pointing at how these trajectories mutated and expanded into aspects of modern
geopolitical issues, the film exposes pillars of Western thought that sustain
colonial legacies of inequality, racial exclusion and human extractivism while
simultaneously proposing another worldview, one that is carried and echoed by
the wind.
about
Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos (she/her) is a director and editor based on the west
coast. Jaime Leigh’s projects primarily concern the empowerment of women, social
and environmental justice. Jaime Leigh is a recent winner of the ‘Hot Doc’s
Cross Currents Doc Fund’ (2021) with co-director Kayah George for their
documentary film ‘Our Grandmother the Inlet.’ The film is currently in post
production, and the team will be launching an impact campaign and legal case to
demand the rights of nature for the Burrard Inlet in partnership with ‘Sacred
Trust’ led by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Jaime Leigh was one of 5 prominent
emerging filmmakers selected for DOC BC’S Breakthrough Program (2022) with her
short to feature documentary film ‘Ask The Plantain.’ The short version of the
project received funding from ‘The Canada Council for the Arts’ February (2022).
Kayah George ‘Halth-Leah’ proudly carries the teachings of her Tulalip and
Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She is a young Indigenous leader, scholar, and activist.
Kayah worked with Sacred Trust and Greenpeace, and traveled globally speaking on
Indigenous and environmental issues, most notably COP21-Paris and
Garma-Australia and more recently writing an op-ed for Teen Vogue, making it her
second time being featured in the magazine. Kayah recently moved to Vancouver
from Tulalip to study the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) language at Simon Fraser
University full time while traveling and continuing to be an advocate for
environmental, social justice, and Indigenous women’s rights.
Arjuna Neuman is an artist, filmmaker, and writer and he is the co-founder of
archiveofbelonging.org, a resource database for migrants and refugees. Neuman
works with the essay as a guiding, multi-perspectival and inherently
future-oriented form that underpins his experimental research and creative
approach. As a writer he has published essays in Relief Press, The Journal for
New Writing, VIA Magazine, Concord, Art Voices, Flaunt, LEAP, Hearings Journal,
and e- flux. He studied at California Institute of the Arts.
Denise Ferreira da Silva is an artist and philosopher. She currently is the
Samuel Rudin Professor in the Humanities at the Department of Spanish and
Portuguese Languages and Literatures, at NYU. Her artistic and academic work
reflect and speculate on questions crucial to contemporary philosophy, political
theory, black thought, feminist thought, and historical materialism. She is the
author of Toward a Global Idea of Race (2007), Unpayable Debt (2022) amongst
many other titles.
Arjuna Neuman and Denise Ferreira da Silva’s collaboration includes the films
Serpent Rain (2016), 4 Waters-Deep Implicancy (2018), and Soot Breath//Corpus
Infinitum (2020). Their films have been exhibited at major art venues, such as
Munch Museum, Oslo; MACBA (Barcelona); Kunsthalle Wien, (Vienna) the Pompidou
Center (Paris), Whitechapel Gallery (London), The 56th Venice Biennale, The Haus
Der Kulturen Der Welt (Berlin), Centre for Contemporary Art (Glasgow) and more.
This program is a coproduction by Kunsthal Extra City, Beursschouwburg, deSingel
and ARIA/CCQO and is developed in parallel to the exhibition Ancestral Clouds
Ancestral Claims at Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerp (May 11 – September 15, 2024)
image: still from Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims, Arjuna Neuman and Denise
Ferreira Da Silva, 2023
********** Nederlands **********
Sinds 2016 werken Denise en Arjuna aan Elemental Cinema, een reeks films die de
basiselementen van onze wereld – aarde, lucht, water en vuur – als uitgangspunt
nemen. Hiermee bevragen de kunstenaars het dominante, westerse perspectief op
kennis van zowel het menselijke als het niet-menselijke. Hun ethisch-esthetische
standpunt richt zich op systemische structuren van kolonialisme, kapitalisme en
imperiale onrechtvaardigheid.
Na de films is er een gesprek met Denise Ferreira Da Silva, Arjuna Neuman en
Kayah George.
Het programma wordt op 27 juni verdergezet met een lezing in Kunsthal Extra City
in Antwerpen.
Films
Our Grandmother the Inlet
Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos en Kayah George, 2023
Engels gesproken
Een documentaire over het leven van Kayah George, een jonge inheemse vrouw, en
haar grootmoeder. De film onderzoekt hun voorouderlijke lijn en de betekenis van
Kayah’s speciale band met water dat in de Tsleil-Waututh Nation vereerd wordt
als oudste grootmoeder en geboorteplaats van de schepping. Tegen de achtergrond
van industriële overheersing werpt de film ook een licht op de uitdagingen op
vlak van mentale gezondheid waarmee inheemse jongeren te maken hebben.
Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims
Arjuna Neuman en Denise Ferreira Da Silva, 2023, 50 minuten
Engels en Spaans gesproken, Engelse ondertiteling
Een poëtische film over de Chileense Atacama-woestijn gezien door de ogen van de
wind. Je wordt meegenomen op een visuele reis langs verschillende belangrijke
locaties en gebeurtenissen, zoals de grootste lithium mijnen ter wereld,
koloniale werkkampen die opnieuw werden gebruikt onder het Pinochet-regime en
het internationale ALMA-observatorium. De film laat zien hoe deze plekken
invloed hebben op geopolitieke kwesties. Ze onthult hoe Westerse ideeën
ongelijkheid, racisme en uitbuiting in stand houden, maar biedt ook een
alternatieve visie op de wereld, gedragen door de wind.
ontmoet de Makers
Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos is een regisseur en monteur die aan de westkust van
Canada woont. Ze richt zich op vrouwenemancipatie, sociale rechtvaardigheid en
milieukwesties. Haar werk wordt internationaal erkend en bekroond.
Kayah George, ook wel bekend als ‘Halth-Leah’, is een jonge inheemse leider en
activist die wereldwijd spreekt over inheemse en milieukwesties.
Arjuna Neuman is een kunstenaar, schrijver en filmmaker die experimenteel
onderzoek en creatieve benaderingen gebruikt in zijn werk. Hij is medeoprichter
van een database voor migranten en vluchtelingen
Denise Ferreira da Silva is een kunstenaar en filosoof. Haar werk richt zich op
hedendaagse filosofie, politieke theorie en feministische inzichten.
Dit programma is een coproductie van Kunsthal Extra City, Beursschouwburg,
deSingel en ARIA/CCQO en wordt parallel ontwikkeld aan de tentoonstelling
'Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims' in Kunsthal Extra City in Antwerpen (11 mei
– 15 september 2024).
Beeld: still uit 'Ancestral Clouds Ancestral Claims', Arjuna Neuman en Denise
Ferreira Da Silva, 2023
