Mali Pool

2022

single chanel video, 20 min 36 sec

commissioned and supported by Guangdong Times Museum for the screening program "Oh Hear Me Africa"

 

About “blackness” in China and noise in the media.

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Today, we may perceive “blackness” differently than before, because “blackness” is accompanied by noise. The way sensors sample and the circulation of images bring this noise. For example, the circulation of images inevitably results in compression, and compression algorithms determine that the “black” part is sacrificed more, experiencing more information loss and more distortion.

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It’s like a metaphor. “Blackness” is in the dynamic of visible and invisible. In the social context of viewing of “blackness” in current China, visibility and light can mean danger. Africans are often subjected to racist gazes, and the children are especially vulnerable.

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Tianxiu Mansion in Guangzhou is an important node of low-end globalized trade where many Lo-Fi sound systems (speakers, players) were sold to Africa. Noise is a feature of many African sounds. Some musicians even break new speakers on purpose to make a typical noisy sound.

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Now the market in the building is semi-deserted, stuck in its own noise. The building contains a market, residential apartments and a swimming pool. The pool at the Tianxiu Mansion is the only public playground the African children have in the city.

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The essay film “Mali Pool” is based on the time I spent with the kids, most of them Malian. Many were born in Guangzhou and have never been to Mali. In this video, which examines blurriness, the children’s use of Mandarin is also often in a state of blurriness/ambiguity.

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