Page 317 - Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

the time, yet carry with them the shadow of the very impossibility of their rep-
resentativeness, which is a poignant, somewhat disenchanting comment on
Ghana’s Pentecostally loaded image economy.
At the same time, by depicting the aura as a product of the camera, the paint-
ing draws attention to the link between technology and enchantment. For there
is more at stake than the realization that the video camera, though creating im-
ages by virtue of its technology and parasitically claiming to embody Pentecos-
tal vision practices, is not the ideal medium of Pentecostal mediation that it
claims to be. The relationship between camera and visual object is more com-
plicated. While, for Akoto, the fact that there was no real exorcism at stake made
him act even more impressively, Augustine Abbey, who played the role of the
occultist to be exorcised, experienced the scene as more diffuse and strange, al-
most as if something actually was to be cast out. Adding to the confusion was
that the snake, which was supposed to have been made visible through the
power of the Holy Spirit in the ¤lm, went missing on location, which caused
people to panic. This experience echoes the fears and experiences of actors
and others involved in ¤lm production when they are engaged in the work of
camera-mediated revelation.
In September 2002 I went on location with the crew and cast of the video
¤lm Turning Point. This ¤lm is about a woman who gradually becomes a Born
Again Christian and thus is saved from her objectionable boyfriend, an occultist
who wants to kill her as a sacri¤ce to his bloodthirsty god. When I spoke with
Nina Nwabueze, the artist responsible for creating the occultist’s shrine for the
¤lm, I quickly realized that distinguishing between fake and real shrines made
little sense. Her job, she told me, required that she visit the very same “fetish
markets” attended by real native priests. She would carefully examine all the
items for sale so as to memorize their outlook, buy some rather innocent objects,
and then build the major part of the shrine from other materials. Even when
she built the made-up shrine, she would fast and pray beforehand, and then
again go through deliverance prayers afterward. She explained to me that spirits
would roam about in the air, always seeking another “image” (used here in a
broad sense, encompassing paintings, pots, and statues) to dwell in. Hence one
needed to be careful about all images, especially those that might resemble
shrines, even if they were built merely with the intention to serve as a prop.
Precisely because all the items manufactured for the ¤lm were to reveal the
machinations of the Devil and demonic spirits, one had to be especially cau-
tious, since the Devil would make every effort to disturb those who acted in or
produced ¤lms that intended to show how he operates. The next day when we
arrived at the place where the ¤lm shrine was to be set up, we could hear drum-
ming outside, which was immediately identi¤ed as coming from a “real fetish
shrine” next door. I jokingly remarked that the shrine scene could now be ¤lmed
with the sound of real fetish drums in the background. The actor who was to
play the occultist retorted vehemently that he was not prepared “to get into the
real thing,” as that would be dangerous.

306 Birgit Meyer