Wandering Abroad
2009
HD Digital video on Blu-ray, 12’ 48”, Dolby Digital 5.1. edition of 3 + 1 artist’s and 1 curator’s proof.
Film stills, digital c type print, 61 x 34 cm, edition of 3 + 2 AP
Direction and origination: Corinne Silva
Camera operators: Stuart Dunn, David McCormick
Camera assistants: Alex Veitch, Andrew Basford
Sound: Kevin J Walsh
Video editor: Sean Mackenzie
Original music: Harry Hamer
Saxophone: Richard Bostock
All other music by kind permission of Honest Jon’s
Contributors: Gabriel Adams; Arthur France MBE; Abiye Hector Goma
Installation view, Wandering Abroad, Leeds Art Gallery, 2009
The starting point for moving image installation Wandering Abroad is the life and death of David Oluwale, whose body was pulled out of the River Aire in 1969, but it also serves as an elegy to the experience of the many economic and political migrants who have come to Leeds over the years and continue to do so.
David Oluwale had travelled to England from Nigeria in 1949 with dreams of being an engineer. Arriving in Hull, he was sentenced as a stowaway to a term in Armley Gaol, Leeds; 20 years later he was found drowned in the Aire, having being hounded by local police. The film, featuring Caribbean and West African music from the period, traces Oluwale’s final journey down the river, but also narrates a journey through the city, and through time, resonant with the march of change brought about through the urban development common to many northern post-industrial cities, which often provides little space for new communities to co-exist with the world of commerce.
The moving image installation was made with support from Arts Council England and commissioned by Leeds Art Gallery, curated by Nigel Walsh. Wandering Abroad is accompanied by a 52 pp catalogue with video stills by the artist and texts by Nigel Walsh, Curator of Contemporary Art at Leeds Art Gallery, and author Caryl Phillips.
View the video here
Warehouse, Knostrop Cut, Aire and Calder Navigation
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
J Wilkinson’s Flax Mill, Hunslet, Aire and Calder Navigation
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
Aire and Calder Navigation, Leeds City Centre
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
Crown Hotel, Hunslet
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Leeds City Centre
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
East Street, Leeds
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
Waterfront, River Aire, near Leeds City Station
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
South Accomodation Road Flyover, Leeds
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
Marsh Lane, Leeds
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
Waterfront, Knostrop
Video still,
Digital c-type print,
61 x 34 cm,
Edition of 6 + 2 AP
2009
