from the forest to the concrete (to the forest)

2019
Country: UK, Barbados
Duration: 10 mins
Colour,
Sound: Stereo
Ratio: 16:9
Available Format/s: HD Digital File
Original Format: HD Video

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from the forest to the concrete (to the forest) reflects on climate-related devastation in parts of the Caribbean, linking the havoc of climate change to the structural inequalities left in the wake of the European colonial presence. Developed in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian that devastated the Bahamas in 2019, Whittle interweaves performance with footage of the cyclone’s destruction, calling upon viewers to reflect upon their relative comfort living in the UK and elsewhere, in contrast to the destructive impact of the weather and societal inequalities affecting other parts of the world.

Stamped with the date 09.09.19 – nine days after Hurricane Dorian hit, Whittle flew out to her parents home in Barbados and made from the forest to the concrete (to the forest) in 5 days. Whittle’s film explores the erasure in many conversations about climate catastrophe. Whittle found it disturbing at the time of Hurricane Dorian that the UK media made little, to no mention of it. There is an apparent lack of understanding of the Western world’s complicity in climate catastrope and climate colonialism when it comes to thinking about which communities are most at risk and the fact that the majority are people of colour, Black people.

More works by Alberta Whittle

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