House of Women (2017) single-channel video, 16mm transferred to digital at the 34th Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival
- Submitting institution
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Goldsmiths' College
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 2437
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- -
- Month
- November
- Year
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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A - Art
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The film, House of Women (14 mins, 2017), explores the fiction-making machine of 20th Century British and Hollywood studio films by restaging sequences to reveal cinematic construction. Key to this research is the concept of ‘fictional activism’ – asking can the film object restore marginalised brown characters as central figures? I enact this by writing fictional characters who return as vocal brown protagonists who tackle the fictional injustices to which they have been historically consigned._x000D_
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Broadly, my films engage with revisionist adaptation. This research included meticulous reviewing of archival source material of Hollywood and British studio films, analysis of films to restage scenes so they can be read with a critical lens, and recasting characters to use film as a tool to interrogate the colonial legacy of 1930s, 40s and 50s films. Production began in 2014 with post-production completed in mid 2017. The project adapted with each installment, changing the form to fit the script and plot’s needs. I used several tools of fiction to employ a critical reimagining of characters from Black Narcissus, including scriptwriting and drawing from academic texts to perform an act of restorative justice. The role of translation was vital, acquiring film memorabilia and producing props for the intricate restaging of my film sets. The work also produced a new critical understanding of the violent aesthetic in film._x000D_
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The film was shown in galleries, museums and festivals across the UK, Europe, America, Australia and India. It was acquired by the Arts Council of England [2016]. The work is part of a trilogy Dissolution (2017-2019) for festivals. Through the production of these works led to my first London solo show, Distant Relative at Tintype Gallery [2019]. Following the trilogy, I received the Film London Jarman Award 2020, with widespread press attention.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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