EXODUS

Abstract

The expulsion of Asians from Uganda by Idi Amin in 1972 happened inside sixty days. Their stories are told in an interactive audio-visual experience. Their stories of expulsion, migration, resettlement and their lives in the East Midlands are told in their own words. The installation uses multiscreen selection of video clips based on close up video 'transits' of filmed communal fabric narratives, filmed in slow motion, with added voices. The audience are able to select colour-coded previews on a large flat screen, using their mobile phone plugged into an audio jack. Using personal testimony from Leicester's Ugandan Asian community, the installation revisits the dramatic events in 1972 and shares memories about arrival in the UK and settling in Leicester in the 1970s, while celebrating the community's continued cultural and economic impact on the UK. The public can participate through interactive selections. Exodus was part of a series of events and exhibitions marking the 40th anniversary of the expulsion from Uganda and connected with the exhibition From Kampala to Leicester at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery, shown throughout August and September 2012. Cuttlefish Multimedia in Leicester developed the selection software for the installation. An experience based on a montage of voices and some imagery from archives comprises the following sections: Life in Uganda/The 60 day emergency and expulsion/The arrival in the UK/Settling in Leicester/Present lives