Sue WilliamsonBetter Lives - Deka Yusuf Farrh And Nisa, 2003
Better Lives is a series of six filmed ‘portraits’ of new migrants from all over the continent who settled in South Africa after the end of apartheid. The newcomers faced xenophobia from communities already struggling to give their own families better lives. At the start of the project, the artist conducted long audio interviews, asking participants to talk about their lives; a three minute segment was edited for each participant. They were videoed sitting still, as if for a long exposure photograph, while listening to the edited extracts from their story as it was played aloud. The intensity of the expressions of the subjects reflect the seriousness with which they participated in the project. One frame from each film has been printed as a limited edition ‘film still’, a large scale digital print in archival inks on archival paper. Six months pregnant, Deka Farrh was arrested on the Namibian border when she tried to slip into South Africa after she fled overland from Somalia following her father's murder. She spent six months in jail, where she gave birth to her daughter, Nisa. Her mother sent her money to bribe officials and get to Cape Town. Here, she set up a cigarette stand on the street, but at the time of the interview, had lost all contact with her mother.
