Watch PJ Harvey Portray Afghanistan in ‘The Orange Monkey’ Video
PJ Harvey released the last installment of her globally minded trio of videos for her Hope Six Demolition Project. The latest clip, “The Orange Monkey,” was shot in Afghanistan and directed by photojournalist Seamus Murphy, The Guardian reports.
The video shows jarring juxtapositions of daily life in Afghanistan, chronicling Harvey and Murphy’s travels through Kabul, Parwan, Nangarhar and Helmand provinces. A herd of goats crossing a river pass by a military soldier standing patrol, an Afghani woman holds a necklace of orange beads on a bus and shots of the natural grandeur surround the politically fraught region.
“The country is different each time; different politics, different conditions, different dangers and then there’s the physical differences brought about by the change in seasons,’ Murphy said of the project. “Songs get drawn from many experiences and events in a writer’s life and some elements could equally fit other songs about other things … There’s an underlying melancholy, which is leavened by the strength and energy of the Afghan people. We know there is tragedy but what we see is resilience.”
“Monkey” follows two other videos of the visually striking project: “The Wheel” and “The Community of Hope.” P.J. Harvey previously announced her first U.S. tour dates in five years this August.
PJ Harvey announced her first U.S. tour dates in over five years to celebrate her new LP. Watch here.