Atomu VR experience on gender identity by DLA#1 alumnis Yetunde Dada and Shariffa Ali premiered at Sundance on 24 January 2020. Yetunde and Shariffa took part in the very first edition of Digital Lab Africa panafrican acceleration programme in 2017. They had been hosted in residency in Paris where they met their mentor and producer Antoine Cayrol (Atlas V).

Atomu
France, Kenya , USA ,United Kingdom
Produced by Antoine Cayrol (AtlasV)

In this pioneering participatory movement piece, seven people gather around a sacred tree—the cyclical center of a Kenyan Kikuyu tribal myth—where if one walks around the tree seven times, a man may become a woman and a woman may become a man. Suddenly, out from the bushes jumps Wacici, a person who has come to find the most honest version of themselves. Together, you will ascend with Wacici on this journey.
https://www.sundance.org/projects/atomu

Artists Bios

Shariffa Ali
Shariffa Ali is a graduate of the University of Cape Town’s select theatre division. Born in Nairobi, Ali is half-Kenyan, half-Ethiopian, and after having spent the majority of her years in Swaziland and South Africa, she considers herself as an afropolitan. Shariffa has served as an assistant director to Cynthia Nixon and is currently a freelance theatre director.

Yetunde Dada
Yetunde Dada is a photographer and product manager with an MBA from the University of Oxford. She is half-Zambian, half-Nigerian and spent her childhood in South Africa. She was a finalist in the Nokia Decisive Moment photography category at the D&AD awards and has showcased work at the She.Clix WOMEN exhibition in Johannesburg.

Credits
Lead Artists : Shariffa Ali, Yetunde Dada
Key Collaborators : Antoine Cayrol, Rafael Pavon, Arnaud Colinart, Opeyemi Olukemi, Annick Jakobowicz, Stephen Buescher, Andrew Orkin, Banna Dasta, Toby Coffey, Steve Jelly, Simon Windsor, Akash Kushwaha, Derren Sinnott
Directors : Shariffa Ali, Yetunde Dada
Produced by Antoine Cayrol
Producers : Arnaud Colinart, Opeyemi Olukemi, Rafael Pavon, Annick Jakobowicz, Steve Jelly, Simon Windsor
Co-writer : Banna Desta
Composer : Andrew Orkin
Assistant Director : Akash Kushwaha
Choreography : Stephen Buescher
Principal Cast : Ira Mandela Siobhan, Sonya Cullingford