Sosena Solomon Brings The Diaspora’s Hidden Landmarks To Life At The Met

Sosena Solomon Brings The Diaspora’s Hidden Landmarks To Life At The Met:

New Yorkers can visit secluded African landmarks without leaving Manhattan, thanks to Sosena Solomon. The celebrated Ethiopian-American film director created twelve >Alisa LaGamma, and the Senior Regional Director, Africa for the World Monuments Fund Steven Battle. The process was refreshing. “We were so in sync. It just felt so destined,” she says “We were all aligned in our vision for Africa and African storytelling and cultural heritage and preservation work.”

She knew she was uniquely qualified to take on the ambitious project as a director and educator. They did, too. “All my projects have really prepared me for this moment,” says Solomon, who has been documenting nuance for years. She directed Dreaming of Jerusalem (2021) and Living While American (2022.) 

“It’s been an incredibly personal journey that’s been rooted in memory preservation and reverence, for me, and just to have it live at the Met permanently, it’s just an incredibly proud moment.” 

Solomon takes a subtle approach in her work. It is not about larger-than-life mythmaking. The narration is not a droll listing of facts. The visuals are not a series of sensationalized spectacles. Her short films are full of soft moments exploring Yoruba spirituality, Nigerian urban planning, the hills of Botswana, and other locations with subtlety and respect. 

These projects are not devoid of passion, but the lens is more precise and respectful than aggressive or saccharine. Drones invite the viewer into a clear perspective, not an allegedly impartial record that sees itself as unquestionable. She worked with local filmmakers and drone operators to execute her vision, who put her on to the hottest new artists in every nation. That energy worked its way into the final edits. She spent hours editing, listening to Afrobeats, and losing herself in the creative process. 

“There’s always been from this very like historical objective point of view, which is lovely—but I think what sets this series apart is that we really went into the nuances, and we really navigated the personal histories and the emotional histories,” says Solomon. “I think these films actually move you and then take you to these places and really allow you to see why they are so valuable. And so that’s a very different way of navigating the stories.” 

Preserving these sites for the historical record is vital as they are not guaranteed to exist for the next generations. “A lot of these sites are in danger,” says Solomon. “There’s a lot of threat… We don’t know if it’s going to be there tomorrow, and so these films are a way to document them in this present moment.” 

She captures moments that feel accessible even if the journey to preserve them is not. The glimpses that she offers viewers put them in the shoes of those who have these rare sites embedded into their everyday lives. When shifting weather patterns, population migrations, and other factors bring change to these places, her work will tell their stories. 

“I get to a site, and I want to encapsulate what it feels like. I want that to be translated in the imagery,” says Solomon. “I think that’s something that is rare in a lot of African historical storytelling and documentaries.”