Maroon Talking in the Park (from the series “Modernity and Aesthetics of the New Black Africa”) by Antonio José Guzman aka De Akuaigar. Panama/The Netherlands, 2010, Video, Colour, 5 minutes

Maroon Talking in the Park depicts the struggle for a shared visual language between Dutch, Suriname and Maroon traditions and their expression in the Netherlands, in order to reveal unexpected connections between post-colonial history and global capitalism. Black identity, as Paul Gilroy has suggested, is created through a triangular exchange of symbols and ideas between Africa, Europe and the Americas. Maroon Talking in Park also deals with the metaphysical aspect of travel, longing, continuous movement and Diaspora. The subtitle of the video is an excerpt from Coded Language, a poem by the African-American artist Saul Williams, in which Williams describes the tensions between Diaspora aesthetics, subliminal sounds and ancestral rhythms.

Antonio Jose Guzman (aka De Akuaigar) Antonio Jose Guzman was born in Panama in 1971. He is a Dutch-Panamanian artist whose work includes film, photography, installations and publications. He lives and works in Amsterdam, Recife, Panama City and Dakar.