When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Black Man

By juxtaposing archival material with newly filmed images, the two-channel film When I grow up I want to be a black man presents two simultaneous narratives, the past in conversation with the future. The contemporary material serves to complement or at times counter and contradict the archival material, offering colonial, counter-colonial and post-colonial experiences of black masculinity and invites contemplation of the present. The script was developed in collaboration with spoken word artist Kgafela oa Magogodi and is constructed through an ‘alphabet of violence’ and ‘alphabet of freedom’. Both interact to capture a visceral vocabulary of violence and oppression and language as a liberating force. When I grow up I want to be a black man is immersive and does not evade feelings of discomfort and grief.

Jyoti Mistry is Professor in Film and works in film as a research form and as a mode of artistic practice. Mistry addresses issues of identity, race and gender, and explores memories through archives and their connection to broader political issues.

Alone against landscape