Monique Myintoo – Public Reading Rooms https://prruk.org/ The Politics of Art and Vice Versa Thu, 27 Sep 2018 20:39:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 Borders: Where’s your ‘We’dom? This world needs a brand new ‘Re’dom https://prruk.org/borders-wheres-your-wedom-this-world-needs-a-brand-new-redom-by-mia/ Sun, 23 Sep 2018 22:44:39 +0000 http://prruk.org/?p=7944

Cuts between high concrete borders, barbed fences, hazardous paths and laden, overcrowded boats. Whatsupwiththat?

Source: SpeakerTV

Panning down to her unwavering gaze, ‘Borders’ speaks for itself. Half-removed amongst surroundings, M.I.A. anchors herself centre screen as stretches of parched land, oceans and perverse, jagged fences limit often frenzy-like hoards of human beings.

There’s no doubt the clip is a passing comment to the serious refugee crisis, a crisis so large that it sadly remains in the fast, online undercurrent of First World issues. “The world I talked about 10 years ago is still the same,” she recently commented on Twitter before ‘Borders’ were released, “that’s why it’s hard for me to say it again on a new LP.”

Being a British artist of Sri Lankan descent, ‘Borders’ is entirely staged in its construction. Curating invisible lines between herself and the people neighboring her, there’s a visual barrier that disconnects M.I.A. to the passing business and calm around her. As if she were the personification of pop-culture, the lack of interactivity between her and the systematically chaotic only solidifies her message: “whatsupwiththat?”.

Self-directed by Mathangi Arulpragasam herself, the clip goes beyond each sonic hook to chastise political responses and materialise the arrival, troubles and hazards refugees face in the continuing migration crisis. Flooding each montage with a series of confronting frames, ‘Borders’ cuts between high concrete borders, barbed fences, hazardous paths and laden, overcrowded boats. Again: “Whatsupwiththat?“.

Borders

Freedom
I’d meet ‘em, once you read ‘em
This one needs a brand new rhythm
We done the key
We done them key to life
Let’s beat ‘em
We dem smartphones done beat ‘em
Borders
What’s up with that?
Politics
What’s up with that?
Police shots
What’s up with that?
Identities
What’s up with that?
Your privilege
What’s up with that?
Broke people
What’s up with that?
Boat people
What’s up with that?
The realness
What’s up with that?
The new world
What’s up with that?
I’m gonna keep up an order
Guns blow doors to the system
Yeah fuck ’em when we say we’re not with them
We’re solid and we don’t need to kick them
This is North, South, East and Western
Guns blow doors to the system
Yeah fuck ’em when we say we’re not with them
We’re solid and we don’t need to kick them
This is
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