Roberta Joy Rich, Merata Mita
Remembering District 6 and Patu!
8
February 2024
8
Feb
2024
Seventh Gallery Lawn
Remembering District 6 and Patu!
Roberta Joy Rich, Merata Mita
8
February 2024
8
February
2024
Seventh Gallery Lawn
We are pleased to introduce Seventh Cinema, a free public cinema season spanning seven weeks. In collaboration with guest artist Kori Miles, we have curated a series of film programs on a temporary outdoor cinema on the gallery's adjacent lawn. In this inaugural season we have selected films that approach the intersections of neo/colonialism and global climate change, zooming in on global colonial expansion and its persistent effects on the environment, human rights, and cultural landscapes.
See the full Seventh Cinema Season 1 program here.
ϟ
Remembering District Six (2016-18), 13 minutes, directed by Roberta Joy Rich
District Six, a once thriving community that bordered Cape Town's central business district in South Africa, was home to many diverse communities that lived together. Since the fall of Apartheid, many are still fighting for restitution. The National Party, during the Apartheid regime once described an area like District Six as a breeding ground for “slums” and “radical thought” justifying their need to eradicate such areas in order to maintain their White Supremacy. The Group Areas Act of 1950 demarcated and enforced removals of one’s residence, based on race and class. These laws affected my family and many peoples of South Africa, who not only lived in District Six, but throughout the country. District Six was only one of thousands of places that experienced forced removals throughout South Africa. Apartheid law, though officially ceased, continues to bear its repercussions, leaving behind its legacies of problematic social 'race' constructs, economic loss, political and psychological damage.
In the case of District Six, a community of at least 60,000 people were forced to say goodbye and the town was literally demolished. South Africa's government post-Apartheid planned to rebuild homes in the area intended for residents who were affected to return, but much of the land continues to lay barren of rubble for many years since 1966, leaving a constant visual scar and reminder. Remembering District Six documents community protest and residents gathering on the 50th anniversary of District Six forced goodbyes (since February 11,1966). This video work serves as a document of resilience, strength and self-determination, not only for District Six former residents, but wider communities of First Nations and People of Colour who were affected by Apartheid laws within colonial imperialism, and the ongoing fight for land and restitution.
- Roberta Joy Rich 2018.
Video produced by Roberta Joy Rich.
Edited by Lyndon Campbell, Roberta Joy Rich.
Speaker: Bonita Bennett, Director of District Six Museum.
Interviews with: District Six former residents, community supporters and Moegamat Benjamin.Music by: Wise Men of the East, Anwar Gambeno's Cape Traditional Singers.Camera: Lyndon Campbell, Roberta Joy Rich.
Special Thanks to The District Six Museum & District Six Working Committee for organising and facilitating the 50th year Commemorative event.
ϟ
Patu! (1983) 112 minutes, directed by Merata Mita
A documentary about the anti-Apartheid protests that took place in New Zealand during the 1981 South African [Springbok] rugby tour.” - New Zealand Film Commission
In 2012 PATU! was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register.
The most controversial, and the most contested, event in recent New Zealand history was the 1981 South African rugby tour. Half the country was opposed to the tour, the establishment was determined the tour would go ahead, and the result was a country divided against itself almost to the point of civil war. This incredible documentary shows what happened. The actual filming was both dangerous and difficult and attempts were made to have the negatives confiscated ... [Merata Mita’s] achievement is as impressive technically as it is effective emotionally. A major documentary of our time. - London Film Festival.
Many people gave their time, money and equipment to see PATU! completed, and it could never have been done otherwise. I was asked repeatedly if I thought I was the right person to make the film, or why I was making it. The reason I was asked the question was that some people told me they feared that the film would not be accurate because it would have a Maori perspective! The Pākeha bias in all things recorded in Aotearoa was never questioned. The other reason they gave was that my politics extended no further than the Maori and the marae, and was I sure I understood the international ramifications of the tour. Yes, PATU! has a Maori perspective but it does not override the mass mobilisation of New Zealand’s white middle class, neither does it take credit from those who rightly deserve it, everyone who put themselves on the line. My perspective encourages people to look at themselves and examine the ground they stand on, while fighting racial injustice thousands of miles across the sea.
- Merata Mita.
꩜ ꩜ ꩜
Image: Roberta Joy Rich, Remembering District Six (2016-2018), video still. Image courtesy of the artist.
Image Description: This image is a film still from Remembering Distrct 6 and features a hand holding a hand-written note which reads "This is my place of birth and I long to return" amongst several other blue paper tags tied to a wire fence, on the 50th anniversary of District Six forced goodbyes in South Africa.
We are pleased to introduce Seventh Cinema, a free public cinema season spanning seven weeks. In collaboration with guest artist Kori Miles, we have curated a series of film programs on a temporary outdoor cinema on the gallery's adjacent lawn. In this inaugural season we have selected films that approach the intersections of neo/colonialism and global climate change, zooming in on global colonial expansion and its persistent effects on the environment, human rights, and cultural landscapes.
See the full Seventh Cinema Season 1 program here.
ϟ
Remembering District Six (2016-18), 13 minutes, directed by Roberta Joy Rich
District Six, a once thriving community that bordered Cape Town's central business district in South Africa, was home to many diverse communities that lived together. Since the fall of Apartheid, many are still fighting for restitution. The National Party, during the Apartheid regime once described an area like District Six as a breeding ground for “slums” and “radical thought” justifying their need to eradicate such areas in order to maintain their White Supremacy. The Group Areas Act of 1950 demarcated and enforced removals of one’s residence, based on race and class. These laws affected my family and many peoples of South Africa, who not only lived in District Six, but throughout the country. District Six was only one of thousands of places that experienced forced removals throughout South Africa. Apartheid law, though officially ceased, continues to bear its repercussions, leaving behind its legacies of problematic social 'race' constructs, economic loss, political and psychological damage.
In the case of District Six, a community of at least 60,000 people were forced to say goodbye and the town was literally demolished. South Africa's government post-Apartheid planned to rebuild homes in the area intended for residents who were affected to return, but much of the land continues to lay barren of rubble for many years since 1966, leaving a constant visual scar and reminder. Remembering District Six documents community protest and residents gathering on the 50th anniversary of District Six forced goodbyes (since February 11,1966). This video work serves as a document of resilience, strength and self-determination, not only for District Six former residents, but wider communities of First Nations and People of Colour who were affected by Apartheid laws within colonial imperialism, and the ongoing fight for land and restitution.
- Roberta Joy Rich 2018.
Video produced by Roberta Joy Rich.
Edited by Lyndon Campbell, Roberta Joy Rich.
Speaker: Bonita Bennett, Director of District Six Museum.
Interviews with: District Six former residents, community supporters and Moegamat Benjamin.Music by: Wise Men of the East, Anwar Gambeno's Cape Traditional Singers.Camera: Lyndon Campbell, Roberta Joy Rich.
Special Thanks to The District Six Museum & District Six Working Committee for organising and facilitating the 50th year Commemorative event.
ϟ
Patu! (1983) 112 minutes, directed by Merata Mita
A documentary about the anti-Apartheid protests that took place in New Zealand during the 1981 South African [Springbok] rugby tour.” - New Zealand Film Commission
In 2012 PATU! was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register.
The most controversial, and the most contested, event in recent New Zealand history was the 1981 South African rugby tour. Half the country was opposed to the tour, the establishment was determined the tour would go ahead, and the result was a country divided against itself almost to the point of civil war. This incredible documentary shows what happened. The actual filming was both dangerous and difficult and attempts were made to have the negatives confiscated ... [Merata Mita’s] achievement is as impressive technically as it is effective emotionally. A major documentary of our time. - London Film Festival.
Many people gave their time, money and equipment to see PATU! completed, and it could never have been done otherwise. I was asked repeatedly if I thought I was the right person to make the film, or why I was making it. The reason I was asked the question was that some people told me they feared that the film would not be accurate because it would have a Maori perspective! The Pākeha bias in all things recorded in Aotearoa was never questioned. The other reason they gave was that my politics extended no further than the Maori and the marae, and was I sure I understood the international ramifications of the tour. Yes, PATU! has a Maori perspective but it does not override the mass mobilisation of New Zealand’s white middle class, neither does it take credit from those who rightly deserve it, everyone who put themselves on the line. My perspective encourages people to look at themselves and examine the ground they stand on, while fighting racial injustice thousands of miles across the sea.
- Merata Mita.
꩜ ꩜ ꩜
Image: Roberta Joy Rich, Remembering District Six (2016-2018), video still. Image courtesy of the artist.
Roberta Joy Rich
Born on Wathaurong Country (Geelong, Australia 1988), Roberta Joy Rich is a multi-disciplinary artist also working as an educator and curator. Often drawing upon her lived experiences as a diaspora Southern African 'Cape' woman with Afro-Asian lineages, Roberta utilises language, text, video, archives, photo-media, satire and storytelling as platforms to interrogate constructs of race, gender, imperialism, Western singularity and notions of authenticity. With a focus on communal knowledge systems, alterity, socio-political histories, the environment and popular culture, much of her installation and mixed media projects explore resilience, power, memory, belonging and truth-telling. She is interested in critical fabulation and anarchiving as processes for unearthing silenced and emergent narratives, and the possibilities they conjure. Roberta's work aims to deconstruct colonial modalities whilst proposing empowering sites of collective self-determination.
Merata Mita
She was a pioneer of indigenous film, a director, an actress, an activist, a feminist, a mother and a teacher and a mentor. She is the first, and only, Maori woman to write and direct a dramatic feature film and her award-winning documentaries are world-renowned. Her work and advocacy influenced a generation of Maori, Aboriginal, Pacific Island and First Nations filmmakers.
Lucie Loy
Lucie Loy is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator and writer (currently) based in Northern NSW and Naarm (Melbourne). Alongside her independent practice which spans visual art, publishing, writing and curating she has committed much of her professional capacity to platforming independent, artist-led and experimental practice. Through her work with artist-run projects locally and internationally, Lucie has explored notions of the ‘artist-led’, platforming the importance of art and artists critically and creatively addressing global and social struggles. Working with the aesthetics of hope, resistance and imagination, as well as through policy advocacy, activism and frustrating bureaucratic frameworks, Lucie’s practice and work seeks to explore the intersection of art, political ecology, social and environmental justice and postcolonial globalisation. Lucie is interested in collaboration, ideas of the commons and critical, transdisciplinary projects. Her recent research explores biopolitics, notions of power and the philosophies and contexts of post-truth.
Kori Miles
Kori is an interdisciplinary and process-based takataapui artist, currently working and living on sacred Wurundjeri land in Naarm/Melbourne. They are of Maaori (Ngaati Raukawa, Ngaati Ahuru, Tainui/Waikato), Italian, Scottish & Anglo-Celtic descent, but born and raised in so-called Australia. They predominantly utilise performance, installation, sculpture, photography, video and poetry as mediums to explore/articulate ideas, knowledge and stories.
Kori’s practice is guided by the stories of Maaui—the trickster demigod of Maaori mythology—and how Maaui’s clever wit combined with the powers of shape-shifting and interdimensional travel are used to undermine structural authority and cause a paradigm shift in power distribution - a social and systemic change that benefits those with less privilege and access. Kori’s practice manifests visions that confront the ongoing damage of colonial and heteronormative social structures, whilst concurrently fostering a space for contemplation on transgression, eroticism, liberation, humour, healing, regeneration and resilience.