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Black Arts Series

Looking In, Looking Out

 

Black Box

November 3 - December 15, 2023

Screening hours: Monday- Friday, 11 am - 3pm 

Finissage: December 14, 2023, 5 pm to 8 pm 

Program description

The screening Looking In, Looking Out showcases the work of six creatives who are part of the Concordia community. This selection of short films explores relationship patterns that animate our daily lives, from grief to communal care. Together these works encourage visitors to reflect on yearnings and aspirations, shaped by the hauntings that test the boundaries of emotional emancipation. What are the sources of immense love, compassion, or deep-seated anger that influence our experience of the world? Looking In, Looking Out is a nod to the concept of Black aliveness while honouring the multiplicity of Black consciousness.  

Looking in, Looking out review

Speaking Back, Re-shaping Tomorrow – A Reflection on the Looking In, Looking Out Black Arts Series Film Screening.

By India-Lynn Upshaw-Ruffner

"Stories of life told by and from a Black perspective are so often obfuscated in the art milieu and in the world at large, so each time stories are shared, they are reimagining ways that Blackness can and does exist."

Badewa Ajibade

Chez Dr. Bello

During a hypnotherapy session, a woman is made to confront the suppression of a memory and as a result, the denial of a life-changing event that shook up her entire world. 

Two Black female bodied individuals are captured having a serious conversation in a dimly lit office. One of them is about 40 yrs old and sitting on a chair facing the younger protagonist who is standing on the other side of the desk, she looks like she is in her late teens. Courtesy of the artist

Bio

Badewa Ajibade is a Nigerian filmmaker. Badewa was trained at the Toronto Film School and is currently an MFA film production candidate at Concordia University, in Montréal. He has written, directed and produced four short films in addition to a feature documentary. His work has been screened internationally and has been nominated and won awards at various film festivals.

Desirée de Jesús

ASK ME WHAT MY NAME IS

ASK ME WHAT MY NAME IS cites a 16-year-old Black girl who is confronted by Canada’s legacy of anti-Black carding practices when two RCMP officers violently arrest her at a Surrey bus terminal. The film uses cross dissolves to interrogate racial misidentifications in policing methods and sonic cues to amplify the "ordinariness of racism," as described by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic (2017). 

ASK ME WHAT MY NAME IS is part of a collection of creative work that imaginatively unmakes and remakes public records of police violence against Black girls to foreground their stories, interventions, and resistance.

Digital reporduction of a public transportation card from British Columbia, featuring the portrait of a female presenting Black person on a green background. The text which is white, is right to the portrait and tells a short version of the film's synopsis. Courtesy of the artist

Bio

Desirée de Jesús, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at York University and a video essayist for Side Eye Cinema. Her research uses experimental animation and cinematographic critical fabulation to offer more fulsome pictures of Black girl agency depicted within surveillance videos and images. Her collaborative research-creation projects include working with racialized girls from immigrant communities to document their experiences of COVID-19 inequalities and with Black Canadian girls to map geographies of cultural and national belonging.

Ra’anaa Yaminah Ekundayo

Elemental

What does it mean to inhabit a Black body in this realm? From joy and love to resilience and power, the Black lived experience is characterised by the simplicities of being human and the complexities of existing in a society where anti-Black racism remains prevalent. Through a multimedia approach, elemental aims to juxtapose these moments and present a space to contemplate the nuanced dualities of Black identity.

portrait of a Black women elder. Vintage cinematographic treatment. Courtesy of the artist

Bio

Ra’anaa Yaminah Ekundayo is a multimedia visual activist scholar whose practice extends between N’Swakamok (Sudbury, ON) and Tiohtià:ke (Montréal, QC). Their work explores the intersection of art and activism, particularly contemplating the entanglement of Black identity, community, and futurity. Co-founder and Chair of Black Lives Matter Sudbury, Ra’anaa strives to actively decolonize every facet of their life, supporting calls to defund the police, abolish the prison industrial complex, and for liberation in our lifetime. They are impassioned by community-engaged art and the notion that art should be inherently accessible. A Black queer cultural curator, Ra’anaa holds a master’s degree in architecture and is currently pursuing a SSHRC-funded doctorate in art history at Concordia University. Ra’anaa is a 2022 STEPS Public Art CreateSpace Artist-in-Residence, a 2022-23 Barry Pashak Social Justice Graduate Fellow, and a 2023-24 Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism Black Arts Fellow.

Emem Etti

Mango Lemon Soda

Mango Lemon Soda is an independent short film about liberating oneself from toxic environments and relationships. The film takes place on a hot summer day and follows the life of a Black femme who has set up a date with her estranged ex, Tyler; hopeful that he has changed after a year of separation. Throughout their day together, Zahrah remembers all the harmful reasons why she left him in the first place and must decide whether she will blindly continue pursuing a relationship with Tyler or prioritize herself and abandon the toxic familiarity.

A Black woman is captured on a date with her estranged mixed-raced male identifying ex. They are conversing over two glasses of orange juice at a brunch restaurant. Courtesy of the artist

Bio

Emem Etti (they/she) is a Nigeria-born, Vancouver-raised rug maker and visual artist currently completing a BFA in film production at Concordia University. As a femme growing up in a traditional Nigerian home in Canada, the dichotomy between the two cultures pushed them to pursue storytelling in visual arts to interpret their experience. Emem strives to create work that challenges the notion of Black portrayal and femme representation, and that also explores the realms of Afrofuturism, surrealism and expanded cinema.

Adam Mbowe

halves & doubles

Director Adam and her sister Khadija share a close bond; however, there is unspoken trauma between them. In this short documentary, the two hold a conversation where they attempt to find mutual understanding through the winding road of expressing emotions.

Two female presenting sisters who identify as Black are sitting in the washroom, the youngest is braiding the oldest hair. Courtesy of the artist

Bio

Adam Mbowe is a Gambian-Canadian-American artist and filmmaker currently residing in Montréal. Her body of multimedia work delves into the intricate themes of oppression and intersectionality, seamlessly weaving together elements of both documentary and fiction. Her creative inspiration is drawn from the everyday trials and aspirations of ordinary individuals, intentionally blurring the lines that separate reality from imagination.

Karl Obakeng Ndebele

I’m Glad You’re Here

In the summer of 2208, Khethiwe shares a call with her late great-grandmother, who imparts insights about her future. Through Amanzi Connexions technology, Khethiwe and her great-grandmother are connected using a framework similar to "in-dream data transfer.". The Amanzi Connexions online platform allows Khethiwe to connect to the African Ancestral Network (ANN) and speak to her grandmother in real time.  

Taking the form of a fictional advertisement, this film is inspired by conversations and visions my mother dreamt of before and during various significant events in her life.  For example, months before my sister's birth, my mother dreamt about a conversation with my late grandmother where she named my sister Dineo.  These dreams are instances of "in-dream data transfer" in which my mother receives information from the ANN, while asleep. With advanced African technology and a profound understanding of ancestral connections, Amanzi Connexions can provide Khethiwe with an interactive experience of "in-dream data transfer" while awake.

bird eye view of an appartment building in a tropical setting rendered in 3D animation Courtesy of the artist

Bio

Karl Obakeng Ndebele (b.1995) is a multidimensional artist working through design, photography, and film. He currently holds a BFA in film production from Concordia University. Karl’s speculative work focuses on the mundane experiences of Africans in future worlds.

About our Partners

This program is a partnership between the NouLa Center For Black Students, FOFA Gallery, and the Visual Collections Repository (VCR). 

The NouLa Centre for Black Students is dedicated to fostering Black students' full engagement, access, and sense of belonging at Concordia. We offer resources, services, and programming for Concordia students from Black communities, and we bridge access with internal units and external organizations that can support Black student success and wellness.

The Visual Collections Repository (VCR) supports research and teaching for the Faculty of Fine Arts by providing visual resources media services and programming and training opportunities for students, faculty and researchers.  

Acknowledgements

A Heartfelt thank you to the selection committee members: Geneviève Wallen (FOFA), Nakitta Hannah Correa (VCR), and Muhammad ElKhairy (VCR).

Ra'anaa Yaminah Ekundayo: Elemental was developed as part of the 2022 Steps Public Art CreateSpace Residency. This project is presented as part of the program les courants by Ada X, produced in collaboration with the Maison de la Culture de Rivière-des-Prairies and MAPP Montréal, and received financial support from Concordia University's Black Perspectives Office, as well as the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications and the City of Montréal as part of the Entente sur le développement culturel de Montréal.

Emem Etti: Thank you to SAF, CSU BIPOC, FARR, FASA, CCSL, Head&Hands, and BPO for funding this project! A special thanks to everyone who contributed to the production of this project! And finally, thank you CFMDC for believing in this work and signing me for distribution!!

Adam Mbowe: Thomas D'Auteuil, Mika Yatshuhashi, Andres Solis, NFB Filmmakers Assistance Program

Karl Obakeng Ndebele: Music Composer: Elodie A. Derond, Twinmotion, Black Quantum Futurism: Theory & Practice Volume I

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