Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc: Foreword to Guns for Banta

About

In the exhibition Abonnenc examines the power of images, but also their absence, in the construction and understanding of the revolutionary movements pushing for the decolonisation of Africa. Using the films and fragmented memories of Sarah Maldodor- a pioneering yet little known French filmmaker of Guadeloupean origin - Abonnenc juxtaposes archival images and texts to reflect upon the afterlife of the militant image.

The exhibition at Gasworks focuses on Maldoror's lost film Guns for Banta (1970), shot in Guinea-Bissau. In following the life and untimely death of Awa, a countrywoman involved in the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the film offers rarely seen images of women and children involved the struggles. The film was confiscated by the Algerian army, who had initially financed it hoping to use it as propaganda. To this day the reels have not been identified or returned and all that remains are some photographs and memories.

As a retrospective foreword to an absent film, Abonnenc's work tells the story of his search for Guns for Banta and explores the figures of the militant, the filmmaker and the photographer, examining their respective functions in the making of a revolution.

Mathieu Kleyebe Abonnenc (born in 1977 in French Guiana), lives and works in Paris. Selected exhibitions include: Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain (2010); Watchmen, Liars, Dreamers, Frac Ile-de-France/Le Plateau (2010); Seconde-Main, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2010); à€ Contre-Corps / Countering the Body, Frac Lorraine (2009); A prey made of space and shadow, Galerie de Expeditie, Amsterdam (2008, solo show). In 2010, Abonnenc curated the group exhibition Self as Disappearance at Synagogue de Delme, France.