Lucelle. B. Pillay. Artefact of Origin. 2023. Multiple Audio Visual Projections mapped onto 3 walls
(Editing and sound design by sound engineer, Kevin Leicher)

This video is an audio visual projection from the art exhibition 'Afterisms: Excentric Data-Fluid Narratives'. In the mid nineteenth century the British brought Indian labourers under a system of 'Indenture' to South Africa to work in the cane fields. Over a period of 51 years (1860-1911) 152,184 people boarded ships to come to the Port of Natal, their records however have been discarded and devalued. Contemporary Indian communities embroiled within South Africa's tumultuous socio-politics have struggled to reconcile their ancestry and their citizenship. Thanks to the tireless effort of academics and researchers over the years, the ship lists now exist as public record online. This projection elevates this once lost artefact and speaks to the importance of ancestry and lineage towards the formation of identity.