A Fabric of Friendship
2023 / Textile, 2-Channel Video
Textile, sound, video duration 08:31
This video installation mixes textile, historical archive and moving images to bring the audience through a journey in the Urafiki Tanzania-China Friendship Textile Mill, located in Dar es Salaam. The artist LI Yuchen works with the last fabrics from the already closed-down factory, as traces to understand the complex changing relations between China and Tanzania.
This work is one chapter of the long-term project of the artist on Sino-Africa relations through storytelling and micro narratives. Departing from the close historical ties in the 60s to the present-day Chinese megaprojects and the influx of Chinese immigrants.