Louis Henderson: An Interview

Louis Henderson’s work focuses on anti-colonialism and criticizing the neocolonialisation of cyberspace.  Born in England in 1983, he graduated from London College of Communication and Le Fresnoy - Studio national des arts contemporains. He recently finished a post-diplôme at the European School of Visual Arts.

In speaking about his interest in anti-colonialism, Henderson ties it to his familial history of archaeological studies and practice in South Africa. He discusses how his films are very much influenced by Deleuze’s theory of cinema as archaeology. With poignant imagery overlaid with text and voiceover, Henderson seeks to uncover the stories of political struggles buried within this imagery. In his films All That is Solid and Lettres Du Voyant, he examines the practice whereby young Ghanian men “mine” discarded computers for precious metals. He links this practice to neocolonialism. Henderson considers the Internet or the Cloud in much the same way: An archeological site imposed by the Europeans whose pastiche can be “mined for gold” or rather reappropriated to make capital.

Louis Henderson is inteviewed by Director of Video Data Bank, Abina Manning.