Frank Mukunday and Tétshim | Machini (2019)

In Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), mining extracts copper, cobalt, and lithium—the minerals powering electric vehicles and fueling the global transition to clean energy. But at what cost? Machini, an animated film by self-taught artists Frank Mukunday and Tétshim that features chalk drawings, stones, dust, and discarded industrial materials, explores the influence of mining on the city and its people. Set across the industrial landscapes of southern DRC, the film traces how extraction reshapes the environment and daily life. Mining is not a backdrop here. It is an encompassing force that permeates air, soil, bodies, and time.

The film treats pollution as both an ecological condition and a lived experience that unfolds slowly and continuously. It reflects on the violence of extractive systems, where the destruction of nature cannot be separated from the erosion of human life. In this way, Machini becomes a meditation on gradual human destruction wrought by human systems, expressed through fragmented movement, layered textures, and a sensibility grounded in the very substances it critiques. (10 mins., video)

This presentation also connects to the work of Sammy Baloji, whose exhibition is on view at the Wex through February 14, 2027. The three artists share an interest in the legacies of colonialism and the ways land bears the traces of labor, industry, and displacement. The film was produced by Twenty Nine Studio & Production, the Brussels-based production company founded by Baloji that supports artist-driven moving-image work engaging with the histories and cultural memory of Central Africa.