©️ Moshekwa Langa
Langa records his hometown of Bakenberg in this evocative, looped video of its dusty streets
Where Do I Begin depicts a line of people queuing to board a bus. Filmed at ground level, the video focuses on the lower third of their bodies, leaving torsos and faces unseen. It was recorded in the artist's hometown, Bakenberg, an area of Limpopo, South Africa. Langa made various works there, including a series created by dragging canvases on its untarred roads.
Langa grew up under the racial segregation of apartheid South Africa and has noted that Bakenberg was not listed on official government maps during this time. Where Do I Begin meditates on his feeling of coming from such a ‘non-existent’ place. The title also references the artist’s displacement from South Africa to the Netherlands, prompting us to reflect on our own sense of belonging.
A recurring refrain from Welsh singer Shirley Bassey’s song Love Story plays as the images loop from one dusty step to the next. Together, sound and image evoke time’s circularity, reminding us how beginning and end remain in flux – a metaphor for the cyclical pattern of eternal return.