as british as a watermelon
mandla
Zimbabwean, born 1993
2019–2021
A high-definition color-and-sound video by Mandla that stages an intimate, performative encounter to question belonging, postcolonial identity, and racialized stereotypes.
You first notice the quiet, cinematic stillness: a solitary figure in a bold watermelon-print dress stands against a deep black space lit by a narrow vertical strip, their calm gaze and the careful passing of an object turning the scene into a tense, ritualized moment.
Using everyday gesture and the loaded symbol of the watermelon, the work situates contemporary video art as a means to confront colonial histories and cultural assumptions about who is considered “British.”
Medium
High-definition video (color, sound)
Dimensions
28:30 min.
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
105.2025
Palette
Exhibitions
