four-channel HD video installation, colour, PAL, 16:9 ratio, 4.1 surround sound, 21:25 min
Each of the performers in ‘Citizens band’ has originated from somewhere other than where they currently reside. They carry their ties to their birthplace through their music: Geraldine Zongo from Cameroon practices water drumming in a Paris pool; an Algerian man, Mohammed Lamourie, sings and plays his Casio keyboard on the Paris metro; Mongolian throat singer Bukhchuluun Ganburged is seen recreating a time in which he busked on the streets of Newtown; and well-known world musician Asim Goreshi is shown whistling a traditional Sudanese melody in his part-time employment as a taxi driver in Brisbane. We may speculate on the places they have left behind and on their life stories, but Mesiti is not directly concerned with creating portraits of these performers. Moving away from an emphasis on individual cultural ‘actors’, the participants of ‘Citizens band’ are brought together across space and in time to affect a wider reaching communication and developing language of emotions.
Resource : Art Gallery of NSW
Pratt Institute Intensive English Program 