Killian O'Dochartaigh
'Uppland' Film Screening and Discussion
Lent 2024
Tuesday, 30 January 2024
Abstract
'Uppland' explores the invisible, beyond the colonial frame, using memory, voice and absence to reveal the present deprivations of Yekepa, an abandoned mining town in Liberia. Using the scale of architecture as a scenography of ‘development’, the film narrates the broader assimilation of African geographies into a global capitalist system. 'Uppland' won the SAH Film and Video Award 2021.
This event was an in-person screening of the film, followed by a discussion with Killian, the writer of the film.
Bio
Killian O’ Dochartaigh is a Lecturer at the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture interested in the relationship between urbanisation and land-based conflict across Sub-Saharan African. A qualified architect, his design research and practices are conducted through ‘Architectural Field Office’ to challenge the dominance of western design knowledge/practices and their imposition upon the lived realties of those from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Rwanda.
His work, teachings and research have been exhibited at the ICA, the Venice Architecture Biennale and appear in Architecture + Urbanism, Architectural Review, MAS Context and VOLUME. Killian was awarded his PhD by Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL).