New film from Nottingham-based artist showcases resilience and hope
Nottingham’s New Art Exchange is set to host the online premiere of The Art of Oppression, a documentary where art, social justice, and womanhood meet. Directed by Patricia Francis and supported through National Lottery Project Grants, the film follows three diverse female artists who use their art to share their experiences of belonging, identity, trauma, and loss.
Patricia is an independent filmmaker whose work encourages questioning social inequality. After searching for a year, she met and formed a relationship with the artists - a sculptor from ex-Yugoslavia, a Pakistani-British poet and an African-Caribbean visual artist. All the women identify as Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse and their work conveys a shared meaning, despite their different backgrounds and lived experiences.
At 6pm on 11 March, New Art Exchange’s YouTube account will host the premiere of this new film, followed by a discussion with Patricia Francis, the artists featured in the film, and special guest Zita Holbourne – a trade union and human rights campaigner, activist, author, visual artist, curator, poet, writer and vocalist.
Set within the context of patriarchy and divided society, the film has a message of resilience and hope. In the coming months, the film will also provide the backdrop for a series of community workshops where attendees will get the opportunity to explore their creativity and tell their own stories.
Peter Knott, Area Director for Arts Council England said: “We’re delighted to be supporting The Art of Oppression through our National Lottery funding, a project which offers the artists an important platform to share their work and tell their stories.
“Culture and creativity will play a crucial role in the post pandemic world, it’s great to see the project is working with communities to give them the opportunity to express their own creativity.”
Patricia Francis, Director said: “I think there are many people who don’t appreciate that art can talk to them and reflect their lived experiences. I wanted to make a film that showed that art comes from a place of emotion and makes statements that we can engage with, agree with, or disagree with. I also wanted to show the people from which art evolves.
“Art transcends language and echoes our emotions, that is the reason why I say ‘art has the power to speak when we don’t have the words.’”
Find out more here.
