that which the wind intends
A series of video essays exploring events from the filmmaker’s childhood on a holiday farm in the Bokkeveld mountains in South Africa- a place which, for many, is ahistorical. The investigation is informed by fragments history from a different landscape, |xam-ka !au, which is brought to life by an archive of stories told by |xam people who were living there in the 1860’s.
“ 'How to belong in this place that is so full of contradictions’ is the quest that brought Dennis Buckland back to the farm Riversong in the Bokkeveld, South Africa, where he grew up, and to |xam-ka !au, the land where the |xam San people lived, to create a new body of work consisting of a series of videos titled that which the wind intends. Through performative actions in the landscape, interviews with people that work and live there and sharing fragments of (his)stories of the |xam people, Buckland connects past, present, and future, creating echoes between events across different times and places. As the camera actively moves through the beautiful landscapes, the reflective voiceover reveals layers of the violent colonial past and its impact on the present, like strata in the rocks and sediment of the mountains and ‘koppies’ captured. History repeats itself. The violence that the |xam suffered at the hands of the Dutch and British colonizers echoes in the abuse of power and precarious lives of the Noorman family. Much remains unresolved, as past and present injustices and inequalities that the videos bring to the surface to digest, are hard to grasp, hard to put into words and hard to change. In fact they remain indigestible. Yet, Buckland’s body of work does offer a glimmer of hope, as the videos also create echoes of resistance and compassion. Moral actions, even when few and far between, and shared values also repeat themselves, and may inspire present and future generations. “
Text by Judith Westerveld.
A series of video essays exploring events from the filmmaker’s childhood on a holiday farm in the Bokkeveld mountains in South Africa- a place which, for many, is ahistorical. The investigation is informed by fragments history from a different landscape, |xam-ka !au, which is brought to life by an archive of stories told by |xam people who were living there in the 1860’s.
“ 'How to belong in this place that is so full of contradictions’ is the quest that brought Dennis Buckland back to the farm Riversong in the Bokkeveld, South Africa, where he grew up, and to |xam-ka !au, the land where the |xam San people lived, to create a new body of work consisting of a series of videos titled that which the wind intends. Through performative actions in the landscape, interviews with people that work and live there and sharing fragments of (his)stories of the |xam people, Buckland connects past, present, and future, creating echoes between events across different times and places. As the camera actively moves through the beautiful landscapes, the reflective voiceover reveals layers of the violent colonial past and its impact on the present, like strata in the rocks and sediment of the mountains and ‘koppies’ captured. History repeats itself. The violence that the |xam suffered at the hands of the Dutch and British colonizers echoes in the abuse of power and precarious lives of the Noorman family. Much remains unresolved, as past and present injustices and inequalities that the videos bring to the surface to digest, are hard to grasp, hard to put into words and hard to change. In fact they remain indigestible. Yet, Buckland’s body of work does offer a glimmer of hope, as the videos also create echoes of resistance and compassion. Moral actions, even when few and far between, and shared values also repeat themselves, and may inspire present and future generations. “
Text by Judith Westerveld.
2023
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
1) That which the wind intends to blow away
The performance mountains lie between us and those places, is presented to an audience in Cape Town, and then re-staged in for the landscape of |xam-ka !au. The path of an image is tracked back from a plate to a book to the cave wall it has since disappeared from. A family visits another image which situates their beloning in a troubled landscape.
Duration, 14min
The performance mountains lie between us and those places, is presented to an audience in Cape Town, and then re-staged in for the landscape of |xam-ka !au. The path of an image is tracked back from a plate to a book to the cave wall it has since disappeared from. A family visits another image which situates their beloning in a troubled landscape.
Duration, 14min
2) Endnotes
A short addendum to be watched with that which the wind intends to blow away, providing some historical context and exploring the concept of origins.
Duration, 8min
A short addendum to be watched with that which the wind intends to blow away, providing some historical context and exploring the concept of origins.
Duration, 8min
3) A thing happening, a thing happened
After setting a background of historical loss, the narrator takes us to a place they grew up in to interview a man who is rumored to speak a Khoisan language.
Duration, 15min
After setting a background of historical loss, the narrator takes us to a place they grew up in to interview a man who is rumored to speak a Khoisan language.
Duration, 15min
4) A History
Interviews with Andries Noorman, a man who worked as a labourer on the farm I grew up on. We talk about his relationship to rock art and I ask about the historical figure, Galant van der Caab. Andries offers a third history from his lifetime, involving the demolition of his family church during Apartheid.
Duration, 21min
Interviews with Andries Noorman, a man who worked as a labourer on the farm I grew up on. We talk about his relationship to rock art and I ask about the historical figure, Galant van der Caab. Andries offers a third history from his lifetime, involving the demolition of his family church during Apartheid.
Duration, 21min