Jessica Shaffer – BKM TECH

Moolaadé: Film and Discussion in the Forum this First Saturday!

Jessica Shaffer — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:12:50 +0000

(Film Still from Moolaadé (2004), directed by Ousmane Sembène.)

This month’s Target First Saturday events at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art here at the Brooklyn Museum includes a screening of the film Moolaadé. Directed by Ousmane Sembène, this award winning film tells the tale of six young girls who are about to be circumcised and the subsequent attempts to protect the girls from this trauma. “Moolaadé” is the name for the magical protection one of the village women uses on the girls to prevent their imminent circumcisions.

The showing of the film begins at 6pm and is followed by a discussion with Dr. Natasha Gordon-Chipembere, who has worked extensively with, and as an advocate for, circumcised women. If you can’t make it at six for the film, stroll on over to the galleries to see Ladan Akbarnia, Hagop Kevorkian Associate Curator of Islamic Art here at the Brooklyn Museum, give a talk on Ghada Amer: Love Has No End at 7pm. Free tickets for both of these events are available at the Visitor’s Center at 5pm!

(Film Still from Moolaadé (2004), directed by Ousmane Sembène.)

Suffragettes in Silent Cinema

Jessica Shaffer — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:16:54 +0000

A viewing and discussion of the film Suffragettes in Silent Cinema will be taking place this Saturday, June 21st, in the Forum of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. The panel will include Melissa Messina, curator of Votes for Women, writer and television producer Coline Jenkins, and the creator of the film, Dr. Kay Sloan. Premiered in 2003, Suffragettes in Silent Cinema includes propagandizing clips from silent films showing women engaging in extreme activities such as abandoning their babies and stealing bicycles in their pursuit of suffrage. This feminist, for one, cannot wait to see the fear of women’s empowerment so outrageously portrayed in these early films!

(Close up of Suffragettes riding float…New York Fair, Yonkers, 10 August 1913. Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

South Asian Women’s Creative Collective

Jessica Shaffer — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:06:43 +0000

(Sara Rahbar, Hosein and I, Oppression Series #2 photo shoot, 2007. Courtesy of the artist.)

Working to further the dialogue between women and contemporary art, the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective is an organization that seeks to unite and provide resources for female artists of South Asian descent, bringing a crucial perspective to the forefront of the global feminist art world. This weekend, board members Mareena Dareida and Sadia Rehman, along with artists Sara Rahbar, Samira Abbassy, and poet Sarah Husain will participate in a panel discussion moderated by artist Miriam Ghani here at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art during the Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturday events. The panel will provide a taste of these artists work as well as spoken word in this precursor to the collective’s 11th annual visual arts show, Rods and Cones: Seeing From the Back of One’s Head, at the Abrons Art Center, Henry Street Settlement this August. Featuring artwork by Samira Abbassy, Samanta Batra Mehta, Anna Bhushan, Ruby Chishti, Smruthi Gargi Eswar, Mona Kamal, Baseera Khan, Pallavi Sharma, Sheena Sood, this exhibition should definitely be worth checking out!

(Shamira Abbassy, Calligraphic self-portrait, 2006. Courtesy of England Gallery)