The Mermaids, or Aiden in Wonderland
& Mermaids, Mirror Worlds
In the not so distant future, Europeans will no longer be able to survive for long periods outdoors in a land and seascape poisoned by capitalism, but Indigenous people seem able to. A young Indigenous man, Aiden, taken away when he was just a baby to be a part of a medical experiment to “save the white ‘race’”, is released into the world of his family. As he travels with his father and brother across the landscape he confronts two possible futures and pasts. The Mermaids, or Aiden in Wonderland is a powerful intervention in contemporary debates about the future present of climate change, extractive capitalism, and industrial toxicity from the point of view of Indigenous worlds.
A two channel version flips between a fictional account of a toxic ravaged world and nonfictional promotional material from industrial giants such as Monsanto and the Dow Chemical Corporation. As wild claims are made about the healthy, safe and protective practices of multinational capitalization of nature proliferate, viewers are asked, which view of our differentiated futures holds a stronger truth.
“Mermaids, mud and the nightmare of colonialism and environmental destruction get swirled into a toxic soup. The mirroring extends beyond the frame of the film, though. We’ve entered a precarious state for our species — and planet. We can see with every hurricane or political or economic crisis that the world has entered permanent glitch mode. Indigenous Australians are in that sense the avant-garde of our species. The Karrabing Collective and the “Mermaids” films convey that knowledge and experience with a quiet and sure confidence, showing us how their violently altered world has become our world too.” Martha Schwendener, May 15, 2019, New York Times.
Premiere:
Mermaids, Mirror Worlds—Van Abbemuseum, Frontier Imaginaries, curated by Vivian Ziherl, with support from Publics, Helsinki, and the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
Mermaids, Aiden in Wonderland—Melbourne International Film Festival
Awards
Links and info:
Trailer below