Who Can Say from Richard Munaba on VimeoA veritable treasure trove of experimental video art tropes compress snugly into the 156 seconds of Richard Munaba’s CGI short film, Who Can Say. In fact, the young new media artist has included a little something for everyone: surrealism, pseudo VR, and an Enya sing-along.In the film, Munaba juxtaposes a photograph of a majestic sunset with a foreground of CGI water, host to swaying grass, toppled Corinthian pillars, and a superimposed orchid. As the lyrics for Enya's “Only Time” track flash across the lower-left corner of the screen (is she really speaking Elvish?), two floundering VR hands probe through the scene. For the most part, only one hand is seen, as it attempts to grasp the orchid at the video’s center; at unpredictable intervals, a second joins the first with awkward, ungainly, and unfruitful movements.
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Munaba, who spreads his time between New York, Washington D.C., and Baltimore, also works in sculpture, photography, and design. He began his video career with narrative, realistic investigations into queer culture, relationships, and gender roles like his film, Missed Connection. Who Can Say fits into a subsequent phase of his work which includes similarly digitally-focused pieces, such as Love Letter to Vacation and Digital Salvation.
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