“Opacities can coexist and converge, weaving fabrics. To understand these truly one must focus on the texture of the weave and not on the nature of its components. For the time being, perhaps, give up this old obsession with discovering what lies at the bottom of natures. There would be something great and noble about initiating such a movement, referring not to Humanity but to the exultant divergence of humanities. Thought of self and thought of other here become obsolete in their duality. Every Other is a citizen and no longer a barbarian. What is here is open...” 1

The subterranean area of the National Roman Legion Museum houses the archive and collection — treasures, artefacts and imperial debris that have been discovered, captured and preserved. Collectively, these hold stories of Britain's Imperial past. How might the archive be activated, to render alive what is deemed absent? What is on display? What stories do these items tell us? 

Searching in-between, the film gently examines figures of the ancient empire: Apollo, Winged Victoria and a native depiction of a Welsh person, a potential Barbarian. By considering museological practices, dominant narratives of the past and gestures towards the complexities of cultural representation, A spirit, a deity, a barbarian? Captive in the subterranean seeks to offer a platform for alternative stories that have long been suppressed.

1. Glissant, É. (1997). Poetics of relation (B. Wing, Trans.). University of Michigan Press.