The Darkness Between the Stars

Serwah Attafuah uses the visual language of the internet, videogames and animation to create playful and iconic speculative characters, self-portraits and worlds which explore possible futures and alternative histories. From the Parramatta Artists' Studios on Dharug land in Western Sydney, she creates surreal cyber dreamscapes and heavenly wastelands with strong ties to ancestral and contemporary themes. She works with various mediums, including digital painting, 3D animation, motion capture, NFTs and virtual reality.

Attafuah’s practice is influenced by her personal experiences of growing up as a Black woman in Australia, as well as her interest in mythology, sci-fi, spirituality and technology. She challenges the stereotypes and expectations of Blackness and femininity and creates new stories and possibilities for herself and her community.

How it was made

To create The Darkness Between the Stars Attafuah has continued to master cutting-edge digital techniques, including VFX, animation, 3D modelling, and character design to craft her speculative world in Unreal Engine. She sculpted digital characters, designed vast landscapes, and employed rigging and simulation techniques, creating a vibrant aesthetic reminiscent of GIFs and cinemagraphs. No part of the work was made using generative AI. Attafuah also created the original soundscape.

In 2017, Attafuah gained hands-on experience dismantling e-waste at a recycling facility. These skills were used to construct the artwork’s golden frames in collaboration with her father, metal sculptor Stephen Attafuah. This blend of digital artistry and physical craftsmanship shaped her unique, forward-thinking vision, and reframes e-waste as something valuable.

The Door of No Return

The archway you passed through symbolises the ‘Door of No Return’, the final threshold crossed by enslaved Africans before being forced onto ships bound for Europe and the Americas. From the fifteenth to the nineteenth century, 'slave castles' were constructed along the Ghanaian coast to detain enslaved Africans before being sold. EImina Castle, which housed the ‘Door of No Return’, was built in 1482 in Elmina, the hometown of Attafuah's father. The Portuguese-built castle remains today and is visited by many in remembrance of the human toll of slavery and its enduring legacy.

Spirituality and technology 

Highly toxic e-waste from Europe and the United States presents ongoing issues in Ghana. Discarded electronics like phones and computers are dumped under the guise of “second-hand” or “donated goods”. In a dangerous process, economic migrants from Ghana’s north burn this e-waste to extract the raw minerals like copper and iron that can be sold for a small profit. The effects of this are detrimental, polluting the air with harmful smoke and causing health problems for the young workers and wider community. Clouds of smog over Ghana's capital Accra are attributed to this deadly practice.

The relationship between technology and Ghana’s impoverished workers is ultimately shaped by the legacy of West African spiritualism and culture.

Impoverished youths resist their circumstances through a blend of spirituality and tech savviness known as Sakawa, a type of Ghanaian internet magic. The Sakawa Boys, young internet scammers, manipulate victims, often from the Global North, into sending money. They also use “juju”, or magic charms, in the belief that this will make their scams more successful.

Blending Ghana’s pre-colonial past, current struggles, and hopeful future, The Darkness Between the Stars offers a powerful meditation on resilience, renewal, and justice.