Maya Gurung-Russell Campbell
Effigy for a Black Soldier and Protector of the Children, 2022
8mm colour film converted to digital
Copyright The Artist
Produced collaboratively with sound artist Cil, sitarist Tommy Khosla and multi-instrumentalist Buster Woodruff-Bryant, the audio-visual pieces Effigy for a Black Soldier and Protector of the Children sonically respond to both...
Produced collaboratively with sound artist Cil, sitarist Tommy Khosla and multi-instrumentalist Buster Woodruff-Bryant, the audio-visual pieces Effigy for a Black Soldier and Protector of the Children sonically respond to both Eastern and Western folk tradition.
Effigy for a Black Soldier uses a reworking of the folk song Wayfaring Stranger as a storytelling device to explore memories of the artist’s estranged father, who served in the British Army and had a strong Christian faith. This work suggests themes of migration, longing for home and the lingering phantom of the British Empire on the diaspora.
Protector of the Children alludes to the Nepali folklore figure of the Lahkey, who is said to be a man-eating demon who protects children and townspeople, dwelling deep in the forests of Nepal. The work draws from the artist’s early encounter with the Lahkey mask when placed into her grandmother’s care at the age of four. The video-performance was filmed during the Artist’s 2022 residency at Space A in Kathmandu, Nepal and is a deeply personal reflection on intergenerational memory
Effigy for a Black Soldier uses a reworking of the folk song Wayfaring Stranger as a storytelling device to explore memories of the artist’s estranged father, who served in the British Army and had a strong Christian faith. This work suggests themes of migration, longing for home and the lingering phantom of the British Empire on the diaspora.
Protector of the Children alludes to the Nepali folklore figure of the Lahkey, who is said to be a man-eating demon who protects children and townspeople, dwelling deep in the forests of Nepal. The work draws from the artist’s early encounter with the Lahkey mask when placed into her grandmother’s care at the age of four. The video-performance was filmed during the Artist’s 2022 residency at Space A in Kathmandu, Nepal and is a deeply personal reflection on intergenerational memory
