I went to a screening of Khalik Allah’s film, ‘Field Niggas’, at the ICA earlier this month. I wasn’t aware of his work until my flatmate suggested I see this film. Khalik (I am calling him by his first name because I feel like I practically know the guy now!) was also there to give a question and answer session afterwards. I came away feeling quite inspired from listening to the q & a part... His philosophies and attitudes towards people/ life in general are relatable and I think should be followed. *
A brief commentary on Khalik and ‘Field Niggas’:
Khalik Allah is a filmmaker/ street photographer and has become well known for his raw documentation on the people living on the streets in Harlem. He immerses himself in the culture and profoundly focuses on the homeless, drug addicts, prostitutes and the relationship between the police and these people.
It is an explicit yet intriguing vision of Harlem. Some guests at the q&a argued it is exploitive to the subjects involved and perhaps gives a ‘disturbing’ representation of Harlem, however I soon learnt Khalik’s purpose was to share the lives of these people and put them in a better light, which from my point of view it did.
“I don’t see other photographers where I shoot, only surveillance cameras. When asked if fear was the main theme of my work I said it’s not fear, but the removal of fear leading to the awareness of Love that interests me. We don’t react to anything directly in the world, only to our interpretation of things. And our interpretations are mostly wrong” - Khalik Allah.
The film narrates its story by shifting through different perspectives of his subjects, complete with hallucinative slow motion portraits and out of sync voice recordings over the top. The monologues are interview style but more personal as Khalik is well respected amongst the neighbourhood, meaning he was able to get remarkably candid confessions. His method in order to gain deeper access into these, sometimes skeptical, people’s lives was to show them a 6x4 book of his past prints.
The out of sync sound scope plays with the viewers mind, forcing us to think harder into who is speaking. This was confusing at first but I liked that it was inconspicuous in the sense that the viewer is left to interpret everything.
Khalik is the mystery person behind the camera throughout the entire movie; the person whose voice you hear (as he asks his subjects questions) but don’t ever see until towards the end when he inserts his reflection into the frame. His choice to include himself showed he wasn’t an ‘outsider’ photographer and indicated he is more personally involved with these people and their culture.
*Link to video of the q&a: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ1pl1QJANk
Link for trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR-k3gqrpTA
