News From Elsewhere explores the fragile relationship between personal memories, the landscape, and their sociopolitical contexts. The project focuses on the my annual visits to Hartenbos, South Africa, a town that originated as a holiday resort established by the ATKV (Afrikaner Language and Culture Association) during apartheid. While the town's history reflects a segregated past, it now presents itself as a sunny beach destination, concealing the scars of its history beneath an "endless summer" facade. Through large-format photographs and appropriated film stills, this project delves into my childhood experiences and the power dynamics embedded within the landscape. It invites the viewer to reflect on the lingering legacies of apartheid, and the profound connections between personal narratives, cultural influences, and the environments that shape our identities.

The photographs are interspersed with film stills from the Afrikaans version of the Japanese anime series, titled "Heidi Girl from the Alps (1976). In addition to the translation, this version differs significantly from the original cartoon in terms of appearance. At the time, rich, saturated colors and clearly defined linework were hallmarks of Japanese anime. In contrast, the South African version has an ethereal quality with a muted palette of yellows and magentas, a result of the archaic analog techniques used by the South African Broadcasting Commission during the apartheid era. The portrayal of Heidi and her grandfather's peaceful self-reliance in the Alps, as opposed to the evil city where she is sent but eventually escapes, appealed to Afrikaners with their own beliefs in self-determination and their romantic idealization of the Afrikaner farm. These hazy images of imaginary and idealized Alpine mountain panoramas shaped my earliest ideas of landscape.