Still from Black Gold

All Films / Pollination / Black Gold

Black Gold

Scotland / 2023 / 7m / English

In-Person: Thur 29 June / 19:00 BST

Online: 23 - 29 June

Moving through layers of thoughts, memories, visions and histories, Ashanti Harris’ filmic poem is a stream of consciousness of movements and sounds.

Inspired by Foluke Taylor’s words in Unruly Therapeutic: Black Feminist Writings and Practices in Living Room (“stop interrupting the ancestors; and let them finish their sentences; and try not to whine; and replace instructions with permissions”), multidisciplinary artist Ashanti Harris embarked on her own journey of listening. The artist, whose practice spans dance, performance, facilitation, film, installation and writing, has been researching oil since 2019. In this year, the city of Aberdeen was twinned with Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana, after the discovery of oil-producing sandstone on the Guyanese coast in 2015. This relationship founded on extraction is not new to Guyana, it is embedded in the land and its history. From the violence of colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade, to the industrial mining of minerals extracted from its soils and to oil production offshore, Guyana has a long and complex relationship with violent forms of extraction.

Starting from a place of pressure, intensity, and permission from the ancestors, this film poem is a stream of consciousness in words, images, movements and sounds. Recorded between Scotland, Guyana and Tanzania, Black Gold (2023) is a poetic procession to the bottom of the ocean and into the centre of the earth.

  • Written and performed by Ashanti Harris

    Cinematography - Gneiss Colours

    Editing - Tao-Anas Le Thanh

    Sound Score - Ashanti Harris

    Producer - Fringe of Colour

    Assistant Producer - Natasha Ruwona

    With special thanks to collaborators Titana Muthui, Jessica Paris, Hamshya Rajkumar, and Jen Martin

  • Captions by Sarya Wu

    British Sign Language by Rachel Jones

    BSL Editing by Tao-Anas Le Thanh

    Audio Descriptions provided by the International Digital Centre

Learn more about Fringe of Colour’s practice of commissioning new work

Read Response

On oil, Drexciya and building pressure

A Response to Black Gold, written by Eilidh Akilade

Listen to…

Artist Ashanti Harris talk about Black Gold in our Audio Programme, Before the Applause - available wherever you get your podcasts.

This screening was accompanied by a live Q&A in-person with Ashanti Harris, the maker of Black Gold. Pass Holders can enjoy the recording and transcript of this event below.

Filmmaker Q&A: Ashanti Harris