TAKE 5 with Silas Miami

Silas Miami is a performing artist, filmmaker and photographer. He recently directed the short film, Full Service and is performing this Friday at The Alchemist, in a show called Afro Loving x Withdrawal Symptoms, with Prisca Ojwang.

1. What can’t you do, Silas?

I can’t draw to save my life or the lives of others. I can’t even draw a circle.

2. Are you going to continue Full Service? Make it longer for the rest of us?

Show me the money and I’ll jump in, dead-first. Any creative will tell you that the hardest part about making content is finding people who believe in the project enough to back it. And I’m not just talking about funding: I’m talking about actual buy-in from audiences as well. I think the project has legs, and given the chance, it can run on its own. It can certainly fit into a full-length film format.

3. Now that you’ve acquired your degree, what next?

I intend to make poor choices on a beach in Kilifi with a single malt scotch in one hand and my hard-earned degree in the other: After that’s done, I’m heading back to Cape Town to pursue a post-graduate honours degree in Film and Media at the University of Cape Town.

Over the past few years, I have turned into an unlikely academic, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the act of disrupting historically white spaces with my shenanigans. South Africa’s history has lit a fire under my feet: it’s a constant negation with self to love self.  I will certainly continue to pursue my other interests: photography and music. I have just been offered a show in Johannesburg to exhibit a second photographic project and I’m excited about it.

4. If you weren’t an artist extraordinaire, what would you be?

A miserable lawyer with a drinking habit, a gym membership I never use and a personal banker. I was close, too. My not-going-to-Law-School story is still offered to younger members of my extended family: it was supposed to act as a cautionary tale. Either that or a chef.

5. What do you think you, as a young Kenyan, can do to get Kenya to a better place, politically, socially and economically?

I think I have started the process of self-development by actively examining and identifying my place here: what purpose do I serve? What do I have to offer?

I firmly believe that we should remain in service of others. This is not to diminish the role of self-preservation, I need to be relatively whole before offering myself up in service. Something is gained from developing a healthy sense of duty. In this respect, I think that it is my responsibility to tell stories. This is why I am here: to hold a mirror up to society.

Being cognizant of this helps focus my attention on what my role, as a young Kenyan, is in regards to socio-political advancements. The stories I tell, regardless of medium, have the potential to effect real change.

I want to create work that starts conversations. Real change occurs when issues are brought into the public domain. We have the responsibility to influence perceptions by promoting honest discussions about difficult subjects whilst investigating our personal biases.