NIGER DELTA: A DOCUMENTARY (2015)

Saro-Wiwa is animated by the question of Niger Delta identity, which she feels is consumed by the war around oil. She says: “I find this identity limiting and not remotely generative. I am interesting in exploring other environmentalisms through invoking and exposing our own customs and practices and allowing them to do the talking for the region.”

Niger Delta: A Documentary is a looped video that was shot at a beachfront in Ogoniland. A red plastic chair sits, apparently unoccupied, with the Omo river flowing behind it. The scene seems to be a still life but in reality it is anything but.

“I made this piece by accident. I was preparing for a photographic shoot but the moment captivated me and I felt inspired to film the scene in front of me. When I watched it at home I saw that there was so much life going on in this tranquil scene. There are crabs, there is water and then there is quiet drama of the boatman carrying a load of sand downstream. I also love the intensity of the colour blocking. Five sites: sand, river, mangrove, sky and chair with an individual identity and ongoing narratives of their own working together.”

The work highlights the bucolic aspects of Niger Delta life and identity. Often talked about in terms of its ecological demise, the peace of the Niger Delta rarely has a chance to be a dominant narrative and this film allows this very active peace as well as other voices: the voices of the river, the wind, the crabs to take centre stage in the theatre of the region. The video also comments on the juxtaposition of the natural with the synthetic and plays with the idea of absence and presence.