Looking for Donkeys

Dual screen video installation (2009)
16mm film transferred to HD
14 min.
English voice over
Sound in collaboration with
Jonny Farrow and Pejk Malinovski
Voice over: Naja Marie Aidt

There are approximately 400 feral donkeys on the island of St. John. Denmark bought St. John in 1718 and held the island and the neighboring islands St. Thomas and St. Croix until 1917, when they were sold to the United States. The donkeys were brought to the island by Danish colonizers in the 18^th century to be used as beasts of burden at the sugar plantations. Today, most of the island is a nature preserve. Having lost their original function, the donkeys roam the island like ghosts of colonial times. Looking for Donkeys is a diaristic film essay mapping Buhl’s search for donkeys on St. John.