Karimah Ashadu

“If I got what I want I wouldn’t be here. If I got what I want today, you wouldn’t see me here tomorrow.”

These are the words of Emeka, the protaganist of Karimah Ashadu’s film “Brown Goods”, currently on view as part of “The Gatherers.” The film takes place in a scrapyard in Billstraße, an industrial area of Hamburg, Germany, and tells the story of how he came to trade second-hand goods after emigrating to the city from Nigeria.

Catering to the specific desires of different African countries, Emeka purchases used cars and home appliances to resell. This informal trade cycle emphasizes the many lives of circulating commodities, and speaks to how these goods contribute to both the constructions and contradictions of industrialized and de-industrialized nations.