About the Programme

Our 2020 artistic programme at The Bower has now moved to 2021, and the artists in the film festival will have exhibitions with us then. We are delighted to be able to screen these films and work with our programmed artists in this way. 

We are also revisiting our first exhibition at The Bower, Diviner by Frances Scott -a film which meditates on our understanding of the transmitted image and suggests that history, rather than occurring within a linear narrative, is cyclical and bound to repeat. Made on a residency at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, Nightingale (2005) by Jaki Irvine (whose exhibition and outdoor performance is now scheduled for summer 2021) also reflects on the process of forgetting and remembering, which the Henry Moore sculpture archive seemed to have at its core with its photographs of temples and gazebos, monuments, statues and memorials.

Just before lockdown in March, we were preparing to open Olivia Plender’s exhibition Neither Strivers nor Skivers, They Will Not Define Us part of an ongoing research project on the East London Federation of the Suffragettes and the symbolic idea of having a voice, making noise and the power of the collective to claim the right to speak and be heard in public. For the festival, we are screening the film Hold Hold Fire (2019) commissioned by the ICA, which also draws on this body of research. 

Another postponed project is our collaboration with Rosa-Johan Uddoh retracing the steps of Una Marson, whose blue plaque is visible from The Bower in Brunswick Park. We are pleased to present her film Request for Reference, first exhibited at Black Tower Projects in 2019. It is a silent film made from an extract of Una Marson's request for reference for her time as a producer at the BBC, years after their aiding of her forced deportation to Jamaica, coupled with footage from war propaganda Una appeared in and generated.

We have also commissioned two new works, a film by G Engerland part 2 and a text by writer Monique Todd, who we had planned to work with this year on a project about queer spaces and Black queer archives, to respond to The Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye. Dunye’s words  “Sometimes you have to create your own history”, particularly resonated with us. 

We are also screening We Are The Radical Monarchs - the concept of a radical brownie troop has been an inspiration to us ever since we first heard about their work. There is a lot to be learnt from these young girls and the organisers’ fight to sustain the project. For children and young people, we have also included an activity sheet to Make your Own Movie in Brunswick Park which includes information on local women Una Marson and Marianne Jean-Baptiste and encourages children to think about anti-racism, feminism and nature. In addition, we are pleased to include some animations by The Black Curriculum on Olive Morris, Mary Seacole, Fanny Eaton and Lilian Bader.  We encourage you to support their work in campaigning for Black history and Britain’s colonial past to be embedded in the National Curriculum, and to make a donation to the cause if you can here.

Design and website by Design Print Bind

About the Programme

Our 2020 artistic programme at The Bower has now moved to 2021, and the artists in the film festival will have exhibitions with us then. We are delighted to be able to screen these films and work with our programmed artists in this way. 

We are also revisiting our first exhibition at The Bower, Diviner by Frances Scott -a film which meditates on our understanding of the transmitted image and suggests that history, rather than occurring within a linear narrative, is cyclical and bound to repeat. Made on a residency at the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, Nightingale (2005) by Jaki Irvine (whose exhibition and outdoor performance is now scheduled for summer 2021) also reflects on the process of forgetting and remembering, which the Henry Moore sculpture archive seemed to have at its core with its photographs of temples and gazebos, monuments, statues and memorials.

Just before lockdown in March, we were preparing to open Olivia Plender’s exhibition Neither Strivers nor Skivers, They Will Not Define Us part of an ongoing research project on the East London Federation of the Suffragettes and the symbolic idea of having a voice, making noise and the power of the collective to claim the right to speak and be heard in public. For the festival, we are screening the film Hold Hold Fire (2019) commissioned by the ICA, which also draws on this body of research. 

Another postponed project is our collaboration with Rosa-Johan Uddoh retracing the steps of Una Marson, whose blue plaque is visible from The Bower in Brunswick Park. We are pleased to present her film Request for Reference, first exhibited at Black Tower Projects in 2019. It is a silent film made from an extract of Una Marson's request for reference for her time as a producer at the BBC, years after their aiding of her forced deportation to Jamaica, coupled with footage from war propaganda Una appeared in and generated.

We have also commissioned two new works, a film by G Engerland part 2 and a text by writer Monique Todd, who we had planned to work with this year on a project about queer spaces and Black queer archives, to respond to The Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye. Dunye’s words  “Sometimes you have to create your own history”, particularly resonated with us. 

We are also screening We Are The Radical Monarchs - the concept of a radical brownie troop has been an inspiration to us ever since we first heard about their work. There is a lot to be learnt from these young girls and the organisers’ fight to sustain the project. For children and young people, we have also included an activity sheet to Make your Own Movie in Brunswick Park which includes information on local women Una Marson and Marianne Jean-Baptiste and encourages children to think about anti-racism, feminism and nature. In addition, we are pleased to include some animations by The Black Curriculum on Olive Morris, Mary Seacole, Fanny Eaton and Lilian Bader.  We encourage you to support their work in campaigning for Black history and Britain’s colonial past to be embedded in the National Curriculum, and to make a donation to the cause if you can here.