Exodus

Steve McQueen’s early film Exodus captures two smartly dressed Black men moving through the streets of London, each carrying a potted coconut palm. The artist and filmmaker encountered them by chance and recorded them making their way through the crowd, the palms merrily waving above their heads.Their pace soon outstrips McQueen’s, and they move away from the recording device that documents—even questions—their actions. They cross against oncoming traffic and deftly board a double-decker bus. The final scene shows one of the men waving from a rear window as the vehicle moves away. The word exodus can mean a mass departure, referring most directly to the departure of the Israelites from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. The film Exodus can be understood as a poetic consideration of the experiences, movements, and migrations of the global African diaspora.