OPERA DI MUXARO:
Ballante dell’Africana Errante

“Opera di Muxaro: Ballata dell’Africana Errante” (Ballad of the Wandering African) is a new short film by British-Nigerian artist Zina Saro-Wiwa shot entirely in Sant’Angelo di Muxaro in the Agrigento region of Sicily. The film, which was conceived, shot and edited in two weeks is about existing in peace during war and existence as war during peace time. The film is about the cognitive and emotional dissonance of surviving societal collapse but finding yourself in an almost problematically beautiful place that suggests sanctuary and maybe even the afterlife.

In Opera di Muxaro, we see an African female protagonist and obvious outsider - part human, part spirit, with an Ogoni mask for a face, wandering in a vivid red town coat around the Sicilian countryside having emerged from the womb/tomb of the of the prehistoric caves that the Sant’Angelo Muxaro region is famous for. The protagonist finds peace and sanctuary in aspects of the land both visible and invisible, past and present, tangible and intangible. But the spectre of war insinuates and is ever present. The work follows the protagonist’s meditation on ways to survive and remain present that emerges from contemplating aspects of the landscape, culture and daily rituals of Sant’Angelo Muxaro.

Commissioned by Farm Cultural Park, the piece was conceived and created in just two weeks during the artist residency in Sant’Angelo di Muxaro that Zina was invited to participate in. She recalls: “The day I landed in Sicily was the day the war on Iran began. I immediately found being in such a beautiful place a huge challenge. Especially as I contemplated the dangers we were now in as a world and the ways in which my own future was directly affected by the news of the war. It was a struggle to stay present and grounded n such a beautiful and idyllic place. But I found that the land is as true as war. Every flower as true as a bomb. And so this tension became a catalyst for understanding and immersing myself in this unique part of Sicily. Understanding its history and recognizing the ways in which ritual and invisible ecologies play a role in holding one’s feet to the ground. The lens of war actually drove me more deeply into the emotional life of this unique place.”