3 creatives on transformative culture in 2020

Wunmi Mosaku

The British-Nigerian actor stars in HBO’s new action-thriller, Lovecraft Country, set in the 1950s Jim Crow era, and upcoming Netflix horror movie His House in the fall. She has spent lockdown in LA with her husband.

On the dichotomies that have defined 2020

“You have a global pandemic on the one hand and a global awakening on the other. My industry has been devastated by this in one respect, but in another we’ve been relying on reading, watching TV, listening to the radio and podcasts more than before. There’s so much going on that’s bigger than you, but at the same time you’re aware that you’re part of the global community. The whole world is resonating differently.”

On why the issues of Lovecraft Country remain vital

“The show is set in the 1950s, and it feels so relevant – relatable in so many ways. We haven’t moved past the days of this racism and injustice: it’s relevant today, it would have been relevant two years ago, it would have been relevant 20 years ago. [But] I think [with] the mentality of the globe right now, it might hit differently because there’s a realization that it’s a structural problem, that we need all hands on deck to fix it.”

On using lockdown to learn new things

“I’m in LA, away from my family during this really emotional, difficult time. My focus has been on learning about the world. I’ve started gardening: my mum’s an avid gardener and she, my sister and I have been gardening on FaceTime together! It’s been a really nice way to connect.

“I’ve also been learning Yoruba. I’m interested in the decolonization of my own culture and what I know of it, so I really want to reconnect with that. I love fabrics, so I’ve been looking into authentic fabric printing. Earlier this year, I visited the Djoletex Industries fabric store in Accra, Ghana, which uses traditional methods of printing and dyeing.”

On why she’s been re-watching movies

“I’ve re-watched 13th because I didn’t live in America when I first saw it in 2016, so it was [with the mindset of] ‘that problem over there’ rather than ‘that problem all over the world that affects me, too’. I watched it with sympathy rather than empathy and kinship, so I’ve been revisiting my heritage, my connection with my African-American brethren. I’ve been thinking about how I used to think, what I watched and how I felt about it then, and how I feel about it now.

“My husband and I have also been watching our favorite films from our childhoods, which has brought a real sense of joy – My Cousin Vinny, Uncle Buck… And we’ve been working through Spike Lee films again. I’m trying to keep joy alive as well as the questioning, in a juxtaposition between the two.”