Gravesend

Few people will be able to draw a connection between the violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and their own smartphone or laptop. Yet a connection exists. The Kivu province in the eastern DRC is rich in coltan, a mineral mined in order to extract tantalum. It is essential to making electronic devices. The high price of coltan has led to ‘coltan fever’, with armed groups fighting over the area and using illegal trade to finance their war.

Gravesend confronts the viewer with this reality. While the video has characteristics of a documentary, it is first and foremost a visual poem. McQueen never shows us wartime violence, corruption or devastation. Instead, he presents the viewer with enigmatic and ambiguous images, often filmed in close-up. Gravesend opens with sterile high-tech footage of coltan being processed in a laboratory and contrasts this with the gruelling physical labour required to obtain the ore. Nearly abstract shots of the Congo River are juxtaposed with the red glow of a sunset reflecting on the mouth of the Thames near London. The soundtrack consists of piercing sounds which reinforce the experience. We find no context or explanation: McQueen offers no clarification and avoids taking an explicit stance. He shows and suggests, leaving the interpretation to the viewer. 

The title of the film comes from a town by the same name: Gravesend, on the mouth of the Thames. In Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novel Heart of Darkness, it is here that the protagonist Marlow tells of a nightmare-like mission in colonial Africa and the dark side of human nature. With this reference, McQueen seems to be suggesting that history repeats itself, time and time again.