Black Diasporas
Naarm-Melbourne
Naarm-Melbourne
No Vacancy (08/2022)
National Archives of Australia (10-11/2022)
MPavilion (12/2022)
Testing Grounds (12/2022)
National Archives of Australia (10-11/2022)
MPavilion (12/2022)
Testing Grounds (12/2022)
Installation
Exhibition Design
Community Engagement
Advocacy
Photograph courtesy of Irene Chen Mokgholoa
For decades stories about people of African heritage living in this city have been written as narratives that perpetuate the tropes of nefarious ‘gang members’1 and ‘extremely successful outliers’ . The danger of a single narrative is that it distorts the self-perception of people of African heritage. The Black Diasporas Naarm-Melbourne project shows more full expressions of the lives of African-Australian people through an exhibit and a digital map; www.blackdiasporas.com. The familiarity of the map of Melbourne connects the audience to the narrator, a very tangible way of “walking a mile in another’s shoes’’.
Black Diasporas Naarm-Melbourne trailer
The project manifested as 456 stories, told by 42 storytellers about places, spaces and experiences that have meaning to people of Black-African diaspora heritage in Naarm-Melbourne. In addition to this 10 Black creatives translated those stories into 10 short films.
Black Diasporas Naarm Melbourne documents the experiences of individuals of African ancestry, living in this city, and the spaces and places that have meaning to them. Referencing oral narrative,2 a common tradition throughout the African continent, in Black Diasporas Naarm Melbourne, we literally hear directly from people of African descent about their experiences. Life plays out in space and time manifesting in this project as a geolocated digital archive of interviews.
From the outset, we designed the exhibition with adaptability in mind, the TV boxes that showcase the stories were fabricated to be modular and easily transportable, allowing the exhibition to be installed in both indoor and outdoor settings.
Storytelling has always been a political act.
This process provided the opportunity for more nuanced representations of the spectrum of experiences of the majority of the 50,000+3 people of African heritage living in this city. Black Diasporas shares life stories that encapsulate everything from the joys of giving birth, playing as a child, to the mundaneness of catching a tram or bus, to the tragedy of the effects of racial stereotyping, and the loss of life. The project is a manifestation of the contributions of 75 community members and creatives including filmmakers, interviewers and interviewees.
Through out the week the exhibition was at the No Vacancy events were held to discuss issues that came up during the gathering of the stories, these sessions highlighted questions around belonging, career development, and creative practice.
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Scanlon Foundation
team:Exhibition Designers: Kholisile Dhliwayo, Sandra Githinji
Storytellers:
Alimba, Amanda, Amarachi, Amaryllis, Angela, Araba, Awale, Charity, Dozie, Esther, Eve, Fatuma, Hanad, Hope, Idil, James, Jay, Joseph, Joshua, Kwame, Mahtut, Moey, Mohammed, Monica, Naa, Nana, Nanchok, Ntombi, Nyawarga, Phillipa, Ras-Samuel, Rutendo, Sarah, Saba, Scottnes, Simon, Simone, Stephen, Yasmin, and Yong
Interviewers:
Charmaine Hunzwi, Duaa Mahmoud, Guled Abdulwasi, Ivy Mutuku, Kalu Oji, Kholisile Dhliwayo, Naa Atswei Adjei, Pokuah Frimpong, Scottness Smith, Sandra Githinji, Rungano Muzondo, Zii Nziramasanga
Editors:
Kholisile Dhliwayo, Sihle Makore, Tichakunda Mafundikwa, Samantha Matemadombo,
Curator: Kholisile Dhliwayo
Film Leads: Ivy Mutuku, Kalu Oji,
Film Directors: Abdalla Omar, Abdul Yusuf, Ansam Farag, Cerina Allotey, Daniel Niva, Gideon Wilonja, Ivy Mutuku, Kalu Oji, Lilah Benetti, Scottnes Smith
Photography: Bonn Creative
Videography: Ater Makur, and Buok Duach
Fabricators:
TV boxes - Marketstall
Curtain and track - Reveal Productions
Carpet - Innercity Floorworld
Decal - Melbourne Frosted Glass
Printing newspapers - E Plot
Victorian Multicultural Excellence award for community innovation
ArchiTeam innovation and contribution award
Video from opening night
References:
1 Benier, Kathryn, Rebecca Wickes, and Claire Moran. “‘African Gangs’ in Australia: Perceptions of Race and Crime in Urban Neighbourhoods.” Journal of Criminology 54, no. 2 (June 2021): 220–38.
2 Kalu, Anthonia. "African Literature and the Traditional Arts: Speaking Art, Molding Theory." Research in African Literatures 31, no. 4 (2000): 48–62.
3 2016 census data