Poison Thoughts” (2012) 3'40"
This rap music video is part of a global initiative “Visualizing Development with Identity” of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) bringing together museum curators, researchers and artists from the Netherlands, India and Uganda. We collaborated with indigenous Benet people in Uganda and Khasi people in India to show how and why indigenous cultures have changed across generations. A combination of action research and community based art production resulted in installations, soundscapes, video clips and an academic paper.
For the production of this rap music video Shillong based The Cryptographik Street Poets, teamed up with other Khasi musicians and two Dutch artists to address alcohol abuse among the Khasi youth. To get a realistic picture they visited San-Ker Mental Hospital and spoke with patients enrolled in the 3-month Detoxification and Rehabilitation program, in Shillong, Meghalaya, India. They gained inspiration from their stories which have been incorporated in the lyrics of “Poisson Thoughts”. Their message is not ‘anti-alcohol’, but it is a warning to respect your limits.
