Andy Butler on processing a dark archive
Andy Butler dove into a confronting cultural archive – and took on racial stereotypes from around South East Asia in his latest moving-image installation, ‘Living Truthfully in Invented Circumstances’.
Filmed on location in Canberra, the three-channel work sees Asian-Australian actors recreate selected movie scenes referenced in cinema programs in the Beyer archive from the early 1930s, when Hollywood films were being screened in Manila during the height of the American colonial period.
‘Living Truthfully in Invented Circumstances’ forms part of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art’s major exhibition Future Remains: The 2024 Macfarlane Commissions runs from 29 June – 1 September 2024. Proudly supported by SUNSTUDIOS.
Photo: Casey Horsfield
For those who are not familiar, can you explain a little about the Henry Otley Beyer archive and why it was of interest to you?
Henry Otley Beyer was an archaeologist, ethnographer and anthropologist based in Manila, he’s originally from Iowa.
After the US colonised the Philippines, Henry Otley Beyer saw a human zoo of Filipinos in 1904 in St Louis in Missouri, and was so taken by the experience that he travelled to the Philippines to work there as a pioneering anthropologist.
He founded the first university Anthropology department in the Philippines.
The Americans framed their colonisation of the Philippines as one of benevolence, of saving a population who weren’t ready to govern themselves because they were racially inferior, so had to be educated in the ways of American freedom and democracy.
Photo: Natalie Loos
Beyer’s entire collection is housed in the National Library of Australia, who acquired it in 1972 when they were building up knowledge on some of our closest geographic neighbours. Most of the collections on Southeast Asia that they acquired in the ‘70s are of a similar tone to Beyer’s.
I wanted to try and understand the emotional lives of people like Beyer who truly believed that they were working for the betterment of civilisation by actively subjugating a population in the name of ‘empowerment’ and ‘uplift’, while explicitly making sense of the world through a racialised hierarchy of power.
I’ve spent a bit of my life doing diversity and inclusion advocacy work in art and culture, so was drawn to thinking about the archetype of the white saviour. Beyer really represented that for me.
What was your original project concept for ‘Living Truthfully in Invented Circumstances’ and which works jumped out at you during your search as being relevant, and why?
I went into the archive not knowing what was going to come out of it, and I wasn’t prepared for the emotional toll it would take. It’s dark and I didn’t know what to do with it, or how to even begin to process it. The cold justifications and worldviews that were evident in the archive sounded too familiar to how we justify inequality and racism today under the guise of ‘saving’ people.
Photo: Natalie Loos
The two things that jumped out were - why did an Australian national institution, when building up a collection to grow knowledge of our closest geographic neighbours, focus on collecting archives from European and American colonisers whose goal in the region was to extract resources, land and cheap migrant labour from local populations?
I really wanted to understand what that says about us as a country. That’s why I knew it had to be filmed in Canberra.
The other one was the cinema programs. A network of theatres were built in Manila during the American period to screen these Hollywood films. For Living Truthfully,I picked scenes where the dialogue touched on various tropes, archetypes and ideas that felt like they’d be resonant with discussions happening today around the empowerment of underrepresented voices in art and culture.
Photo: Natalie Loos
What do we know about how these movies were received at the time, and who they were viewed by?
There was a booming movie house culture in Manila at the turn of the 20th century with the arrival of American occupiers. While there were films being made locally, the Americans really began to dominate the market there because it coincided with the rise of the Hollywood studio system.
The sheer number of cinema programs in Beyer’s archive speaks to the healthy film-going culture in Manila at the time.
What blew me away, and what led to the concept of the work, was the sheer absurdity of a colonial government enacting such violence on a population, and that they would have been watching movies that represented the region of the world they were trying to control in such a ridiculous and absurd way.
Photo: Natalie Loos
When it came to re-creating and production, what were the casting and aesthetic considerations around the way you wanted to bring your vision to life?
Casting the right performers was paramount. The scenes are pretty ridiculous, and are reminiscent of a particular racialised world view perpetuated by the West that is difficult to sit with, because it still resonates today. Margot and Richie both knew the concept behind it, and that we were hoping to recreate these scenes earnestly - fully committing to the bit. All of the actors in the source films are white, but because of the nature of the films and the content of the archive I knew I wanted to work with other Asian-Australians.
Photo: Natalie Loos
The other aesthetic consideration was making Canberra feel like a character, to make its architecture feel monumental in some parts, and to lean in to the absurdity of using incongruous backdrops for the scenes.
How did the equipment supplied by SUNSTUDIOS serve you specifically in achieving that vision?
We knew that there would be a range of filming conditions, inside and outside, and that we wouldn’t always have much time.
Filming inside public institutions is great because the architecture provides a dynamic pre-built set that you have to be able to play around with. I’ve done it a few times now, and while it comes with challenges, it’s really worth it.
This is the third project I’ve worked with Justin Balmain on, and he’s amazing - a cinematographer who is also a video artist. I knew that we wanted the kinds of images that could lend themselves to creating an aesthetic of cinematic spectacle - on a constrained budget. I wanted it to feel like we were trying to construct a world in the language and aesthetics of high-production cinema because that feeds into the absurdity of the work.
Photo: Natalie Loos
Justin came with his own RED Komodo and lenses and I can’t believe what that images that camera can capture. Watching the final work projected, the level of detail, and the colour grade that came out of it with CRAYON is more than I could have imagined.
The shots we had to do were a mix of outdoor with a public and variable weather, or indoor in public institutions that we’ve had to negotiate very hard to be able to film in, with strict time constraints so we wouldn’t interrupt the public or compromise any of the library collections or functions.
The equipment we had meant that Justin, our Gaffer James Hiscutt, 1st AC Elissa Heath and the rest of the production team could work together in such a seamless way to set up and get shots quickly, while leaving space for me, Ari, Richie and Margot to get the performances we needed to.
The Terradek Bolt LT 15 and Atomos Sumo 19 was such a great combo for Elissa and Justin to be able work so closely and seamlessly, with Elissa pulling focus and setting up shots while Justin and James could troubleshoot lighting.
The dynamism of the shots we were able to get really opened up. Justin loves the EasyRig so a good 1st AC with the equipment she needed to do her job was seamless.
Photo: Natalie Loos
Having two S60-C Skypanels meant that we knew we could quickly get whatever lighting mood we wanted in whatever conditions with such a solid workhorse. In the spirit of low-budget filmmaking, there was still diffusion setups with bunnings-bought-muslin and bulldog clips aplenty.
The Avenger 8x8 foldaway frame with sunbounce scrim meant we could more easily navigate natural lighting in outdoor shots, and when paired with the Skypanels, James Hiscutt could really work some magic.
I love the teamwork and problem solving on set when it is a smaller scale production. The key pieces of equipment we got from SUNSTUDIOS meant we could get more of what we needed in the time we had, and fit all the equipment into a single van.
What were they key challenges for you during production or resolving the concept?
As would be a common understanding of independent filmmakers - time and resourcing is always the biggest challenge. This was also the first time I’d done a shoot away from Melbourne. I worked with an incredible producer and dramaturg Ari Angakasa (who stars in the film, and is also a fantastic video artist in her own right!).
Photo: Natalie Loos
She managed to bring together a great production crew of five based in Canberra, and arranged and oversaw the logistics of flying in and managing five others from Bendigo, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as helping with negotiating access to film in institutional spaces. Communicating what we wanted to do takes negotiation and diplomacy.
Resolving the concept is the fun part, it was a seed of an idea that pretty much wrote itself. Working as a video artist and not a straight-up filmmaker means you work in a bit of a different mode - it’s more experimental, it doesn’t need to have a narrative thrust in the same way as more conventional filmmaking, but you get to use the same building blocks of cinema.
You can have a base vision and then trust your gut and collaborators that it will grow into something compelling.
Now it is installed and open to the public, any reflections on the final result and response from viewers?
You never know how people will respond, but the most exciting thing about being an artist is sitting in the unknown.
I genuinely feel a positive response from people I’ve talked to. I feel like I’m heading in the right direction and asking the right questions in the art I’m making at the moment. The exciting thing about working in a gallery context means that the work bounces off other artist’s pieces - sculptures, or wall works, or other videos. I love the conversation and dialogue between the works.
Photo: Casey Horsfield
The final result in the gallery is the effort of so many people - not just during production and post-production, but the install process is a whole other element. The ACCA team is an amazing, well-oiled machine.
The work itself is about some pretty dark histories that can feel overwhelming, but the thing I love about making art in this way is how collaborative it is. Working with so many good people is where the joy, silliness and surprise comes in.
LIVING TRUTHFULLY IN INVENTED CIRCUMSTANCES, presented as part of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art’s major exhibition Future Remains: The 2024 Macfarlane Commissions runs from 29 June – 1 September 2024. Proudly supported by SUNSTUDIOS.