view counter

Cinenova: Ayesha Hameed & Sandra Lahire

At a glance
Add to calendar
Time 20:30
Date 27/04/17
Price £4
  • Produced by Cinenova
  • Price £4, £2 concessions
  • Get ready to consider the life and circulation of the fingerprint
  • Bring along interests in experimental film making
  • See you at DIY Space for London

For the April Now Showing, artist Ayesha Hameed will present two works from Sandra Lahire alongside her own work A Rough History (of the destruction of fingerprints).

A Rough History (of the destruction of fingerprints) is a film essay that looks at the coalescence of skin and data in the collection and destruction of fingerprints, examining the life and circulation of the fingerprint in a speculative history that travels from border checks to early gestures in film. It was exhibited as part of Forensic Architecture at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, at Social Glitch at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich Vienna, at Pavilion in Leeds, and at Home Works Space Program in Beirut.

Serpent River (1989, 30 mins)
Beautiful but often violent images are interwoven to create an experimental documentary about the hazardous existence of the Serpent River community living in the shadow of uranium mines in Ontario, Canada. Serpent River is the final part of a trilogy (see Uranium Hex and Plutonium Blonde) of anti-nuclear films in which the filmmaker makes visible the invisible menace of radioactivity. People, the landscape and natural resources all bear the scars. A matter-of-fact narration by a woman miner and a radiation expert lend emphasis to the film's unconventional and evocative images.

Uranium Hex (1987, 11 mins)
Using a kaleidoscopic array of experimental techniques, this film explores uranium mining in Canada and its destructive effects on both the environment and the women working in the mines. A plethora of images ranging from the women at work to spine-chilling representations of cancerous bodies are accompanied by unnerving industrial sounds and straightforward information from some of the women.

Ayesha Hameed’s work explores contemporary borders and migration, critical race theory, Walter Benjamin, and visual cultures of the Black Atlantic. Her work has been performed or exhibited at ICA London (2015), Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (2014), at The Chimurenga Library at the Showroom, London (2015), Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, Oxford (2015), Edinburgh College of Art (2015), Kunstraum Niederoesterreich Vienna (2015), Pavillion, Leeds in 2015, Homeworks Space Program, Beirut (2016), the Bartlett School of Architecture (2016), and Mosaic Rooms (2017).

Her publications include contributions to Forensis: The Architecture of Public Truth (Sternberg Press 2014), We Travelled The Spaceways (Duke University Press forthcoming 2017), Unsound/Undead (Univocal, Forthcoming 2017); and books including Visual Cultures as Time Travel (with Henriette Gunkel Sternberg, forthcoming 2017), Futures and Fictions (co-edited with Simon O’Sullivan and Henriette Gunkel forthcoming 2017). She is currently the Joint Programme Leader in Fine Art and History of Art.

Sandra Lahire was born in 1950. She studied Philosophy at the University of Newcastle-on-Tyne (BA), Fine Art Film at St Martins School of Art (BA 1984) and Film & Environmental Media at the Royal College of Art (MA 1986).
Her films have been shown nationally and internationally at cinemas and festivals including Creteil, Locarno, Berlin, Montreal, Sao Paolo, Turin, Jerusalem, Australia and the Philippines. Writings include Lesbians in Media Education published in Visibly Female (ed Hilary Robinson, Camden Press 1987) and articles for Undercut. She also wrote a musical score for Lis Rhodes' film Just About Now. She passed away in 2001.

Cinenova: Now Showing began in March 2015 and runs monthly. The series intends to materialise relationships between contemporary artist moving image practice and the feminist and organising legacies present in the Cinenova collection. Now Showing future invited protagonists include: Onyeka Igwe, Oreet Ashery, Letitia Beatriz, Ayesha Hameed, Olivia Plender, Charlotte Prodger and more to be announced. Past events have been with Kathryn Elkin and Sarah Turner; Noski Deville and Patrick Staff; Kari Robertson and Judith Barry; Nooshin Farhid and Lis Rhodes; Rehana Zaman and Lai Ngan Walsh & the Law Collective; Lucy Clout, Tracey Moffatt and Susan Stein; Cara Tolmie, Kimberley O'Neill and France-Lise McGurn, Judith Barry and Ruth Novaczek; Justice for Domestic Workers and Leeds Animation Co-op; Claire Hope and Judith Barry; Lucy Parker and Adriana Monti; Kate Davis, Margaret Salmon and Sheffield Film Co-op; Richard John Jones and Karen Everett; Grace Schwindt and Kim Longinotto.

view counter