Onyeka Igwe: a so-called archive
Onyeka Igwe, a so-called archive, 2020
HD video, colour, sound, 19 min 40 sec. Courtesy the artist and Arcadia Missa, London
About the Work
The Nigerian Film Unit was one of the first self-directed outposts of the British visual propaganda engine, the Colonial Film Unit (1932–55). Today, its former building in Lagos stands empty. Its rooms are full of dust, cobwebs, stopped clocks and rusty, rotting celluloid film cans. The films left in this building are hard to watch, not only because of their condition, but because people do not want to see them. They reveal a colonial residue, echoed in the walls of the building itself. Meanwhile, in Bristol, the former British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (2002–09) was once housed in the vaults of one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s most famous railway stations, Bristol Temple Meads. Now it is shrouded in ignominy after the alleged illegal sale of several items from its collection, leading to its closure. The monetization and obscurity of its collection point to an attitude to Britain’s colonial past. a so-called archive imagines the ‘lost’ films from both of these institutions using soundscapes, choral arrangements and a radio play within the confines of images from a disembodied tour of the exquisite corpse of an archive building.
About the Artist
Onyeka Igwe (b. 1986, London, UK) is an artist and researcher based in London specializing in moving image. Her work revolves around a fundamental question: how do we live together? Rather than providing a definitive answer, she aims to explore the complexities of mutuality in a world that emphasizes individualism. Central to Igwe's practice is the exploration of sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic forms of knowledge. Often working with archives, she delves into the realms of the body, histories, and both oral and written narratives as vehicles for inquiry. Working primarily in the medium of film, her practice involves untangling strands and threads, firmly anchored by a rhythmic editing style, while paying close attention to the dissonance, introspection and amplification that emerge between image and sound. In 2018, Igwe joined Black Obsidian Sound System (B.O.S.S.), a QTIBIPOC sound system based in South London. B.O.S.S. was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2021.
About ICA x FRIEZE FILM LONDON
Frieze Film returns to Frieze London in collaboration with the Institute of Contemporary Arts. The curated selection of seven films will be screened throughout Frieze Week, 8–13 October, at the ICA and on frieze.com, streaming online until 31 October.
The programme showcases films from galleries with a focus on early-career and under-exposed artists. This year’s films were selected by a jury including Steven Cairns (Head of Artistic Programme at the ICA), Myriam Mouflih (Curator, Writer and Programmer at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival) and Guilherme Blanc (Artistic Director of Batalha Centro de Cinema and curator of independent cinema and moving image) for the second year.
