Healing Sounds
Makenna Muigai explores the violin as a metaphor for womanhood while Erika Kimani uses the Mbira - a Zimbabwean traditional instrument - to journey into the past.
By African Leadership Academy
Curated by Towela "Kams" Tembo
Videographer Makenna Muigai and Ludovico Einaudi explore how the experience of being a woman is akin to the subtle notes of a violin - sometimes high, sometimes low.
Experience (2021) by Makenna MuigaiAfrican Leadership Academy
Experience by Makenna Muigai
In her short film, Makenna Muigai focuses her lens on Ludovico Einaudi - a young brilliant composer - to explore how the striking notes of the violin capture the essence of womanhood.
Experience (2021) by Makenna MuigaiAfrican Leadership Academy
Colour Representation in 'Experience'
The two locations of the short film - yellow grassy field and red-lit room - work concurrently to highlight the aspect of freedom experienced when Ludovico plays the violin and the luring attraction towards the instrument respectively.
"Womanhood is a construct that simply cannot conform to one definition. It can be described as nurturing, complex, painful or even related to the ocean. Simply put, it is an experience." - Makenna Muigai
Mbira (2021) by Erika KimaniAfrican Leadership Academy
Short Film: 'Mbira' by Erika Kimani
The Mbira is a traditional instrument historically used by Zimbabwean men. In her debut film, Kimani repurposes the instrument in the hands of a woman to demystify reincarnation as taboo by using the mbira as a gateway into the past.
Mbira (2021) by Erika KimaniAfrican Leadership Academy
The Plot of 'Mbira'
An intense recollection of memories from past lives are triggered as the Nomvula, the protagonist, plays the mbira.
In this way, the audience is caught up in the to and fro alongside Nomvula as they work collectively with her to reconcile the past with the present.
"This project aims to touch on real people’s experiences (and sometimes, my own) with deja vu, memory and reincarnation. It steps away from the idea that reincarnation is a spooky, supernatural occurrence and rather, normalises it one that we universally experience in one way or another. Spiritual beings having a repeated human experience." - Erika Kimani affirms.
Art by Makenna Muigai and Erika Kimani
Curated by Towela "Kams" Tembo
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