Archaeology of Origin:Visions of Africa in Borderless Cinema

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Still from The Last Angel of History, film by John Akomfrah

Origin, as the sole defining feature of identity, is coming under challenge in an increasingly global environment. There is a tendency to regard this as a recent phenomenon, but black peoples who have had a long history of coping with dispersal through slavery, exile and migration have pushed the boundaries of "origin" by developing transnational strategies that combine nations, cultures and journeys. This exhibition/series examines these complex identities by exploring selected fiction and documentary works created by filmmakers from the "black diaspora" as these filmmakers create, recoup and re-map the histories and experiences of black identities within global realities.