Kenyan storyteller Ogutu Muraya investigates the traumatic legacy of our complex colonial history.
Fractured Memory begins with ‘Princess and Powers’, an essay by the Afro-American writer James Baldwin. The text describes the first, historic congress of black writers, philosophers, theoretists and artists in 1956, at the Sorbonne in Paris. From there, Muraya makes a connection to 2007, making you a witness to political violence in the streets of Kenya, following a rigged election. In this journey through time, we look back at how hunger for power can utterly disrupt a society.
Diverse perspectives – Baldwin’s text, archive materials and Ogutu’s own life experiences – offer us a new language with which to deal with uncomfortable truths. Fractured Memory is a plea for looking at history through less manipulated spectacles.
Ogutu Muraya is a writer and theatre maker, but sees himself as a storyteller. He seeks new forms of storytelling in which socio-political issues are combined with the belief that art is an important catalyst in questioning our certainties, as well as for the re-telling of invisible ‘mis-told’ stories that find no place in conventional discourse.
60'
composition & performance: Ogutu Muraya, composition and performance: Esther Mugambi & Noah Voelker, initial research with: Nele Beinborn, with advice from: Nicola Unger & Andrea Božić, filming & editing: Citénoir, produced by: Das Theatre, special thanks: Roland Albrecht, Akira Milan, Lena Graber, Dirk Verstockt, Edit Kaldor, Muthoni Garland & Al Kags, image: Thomas Lenden, in cooperation with: Africalia
