The Memory Lives

The Memory lives is a short movie about memories of Africa, based on the stories and pictures from two missionaries who used to live and work in numerous African countries for over 40 years. These missionaries, nowadays living near the African Museum in Berg en Dal in the Netherlands, cherish warm and fond memories of a continent that at first was unfamiliar to them, but that finally became their home. In thought, they are still in Africa and their biggest wish is, therefore, to be buried in Africa. By keeping the memories alive through their photographs and stories, they live in a constant paradox: their old fashioned rest house and the African Museum next to it do not, in fact, match the memories they have of the continent. In this movie, I have tried to capture the desolate feelings of these two missionaries living in an artificial African space in the Netherlands.

This movie is made during the Artist in Residence project for IFAA