I AM MILLI
6.5. until October 16.7.2022, XNUMX
Free entry! (Registration is not required)
Photos: Frank Gillich
curated by Natasha A Kelly
With works by Sonia E. Barrett, Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Zari Harat, Nadu Hormann, Mwangi Hutter, Belinda Kazeem-Kaminski, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju, Natasha A. Kelly, Magda Korsinsky and Patricia Vester
The group exhibition I AM MILLI with films, performances, pictures, installations, photographs and objects by eleven artists follows the film documentation "Milli's Awakening" (2018) by Natasha A. Kelly, in which Black artists of different generations report on their challenges in and with German art institutions. In the follow-up project, the works of the artists in the film are set in dialogue with the works of other black artists, all of whom have their main focus in German-speaking countries. Not only the collective experiences of these women, but also the social structures that mark their political position and the associated black feminist space of action are made visible and tangible.
The catalog “I AM MILLI. Iconographies of Black Feminism” will be published by Orlanda Verlag Berlin on the occasion of the exhibition.
With texts by: Mahret Ifeoma Kupka, Achan Malonda, Dr. Michaela Dudley and Ciani-Sophia Hoeder
ISBN: 978-3-949545-27-6, Price: €16
"MILLI'S AWAKE"
At the center is Kelly's award-winning documentary film "Milli's Awakening", commissioned by the Berlin Biennale in 2018. In eight consecutive short films, Black women who live in Germany report on their challenges in and with German art institutions, on visual representation and on political and social exclusion. Her biographical stories show the extent to which engaging with art (in all its manifestations) can serve as a “remedy” to alleviate lived emotional isolation, social oppression, racism and sexism. The title of the film goes back to the painting "Sleeping Milli" by the expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner from 1911. It shows the naked body of a black woman lying on a sofa. Her eyes are closed, but only the title suggests that she is asleep. Her body is outlined with a strong line, the colors are applied unmixed. On the right, Kirchner painted a figure in a bright pink that contrasts with the dark skin tone of "Millis" and resembles an African sculpture that appears to be caught in a dancing motion.
While Kirchner's "Sleeping Milli" (1911) is the focal point of the documentary, Kelly opens with Kirchner's "Narrative Milli" (1910)[I] what the postcolonial theorist Homi K. Bhabha has termed a "third space." It is not just a physical space, but a place of transition where racist and sexist power relations and norms can be undermined by aesthetic practices. On view will be works by Black women artists who have managed to establish their own self-determined identity as Black women within the community through their art white to educate the German majority society. The socio-political process that Black women go through in the course of their history from object to subject is addressed. In this sense it is possible I AM MILLI as Black Feminist "discourse terrain’, a concept proposed by the black American cultural critic bell hooks that can be used to identify and name persistent socio-political inequalities.[ii]
Who visites war Milli?
An Intervention from Natasha A. Kelly
April 26, 2022 to April 30, 2023 in the Bremen Art Gallery
Photo: Installation view "Sleeping Milly" by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner in the collection exhibition "Remix" in the Kunsthalle Bremen, photo; Marcus Meyer Photography
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I AM MILLI is another artistic answer by the author, activist and communication scientist Natasha A. Kelly to the question posed in the Kunsthalle Bremen "Who was Milli?", the black model in Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's painting "Sleeping Milli" (1911). In the dialogue between her own work and the work in her film "Milli's Awakening" (2018) portrayed artists, as well as the works of other black artists who have their main focus of life in the German-speaking area, not only the collective experiences of these women*, but also the social structures that mark their political position and the associated black feminist space of action, visible.
Natasha A Kelly Photo: Samia Rachel
An Artistic Research Series by Natasha A. Kelly
I AM MILLI forms the fifth part of the multimedia art project with which the scientist, author and filmmaker Natasha A. Kelly shows structural discrimination in German society. The film documentation has already been released "Milli's Awakening" (2018), the related publication "Milli's awakening. Black Women, Art and Resistance" (2018), as well as film mythology Milli's Rising (2019). For the exhibition, Natasha A. Kelly conceived the performative sub-project together with the artist Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju "Milli's Ghost", which will be on display during the group exhibition. At the same time as the show in Osnabrück, an intervention by Natasha A. Kelly can be seen in the permanent exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen. Under the title "Who was Milli?", the Black Model of the Brücke artists, the artist and curator comments on the painting "Sleeping Milli" (1911) by the expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, which is dedicated to the overall project.
Events
exhibition tour
for educators, teachers and multipliers by and with Natasha A. Kelly
Saturday, 7.5.2022 11.30 a.m. – 13.30 p.m
Free entry! We ask for Sign in
Lecture
Looking back and forward: black feminism in Germany
Lecture by Natasha A Kelly
Saturday, May 07, 2022, 18 am - 20 pm
The lecture and the discussion will be broadcast live as a video conference via ZOOM. Please use this link
Location: art space hase29
Free entry! We ask for Sign in
A parent-child afternoon in the studio of the art space hase29
Art and cooking - fun in the studio and kitchen
Unfortunately, the date has to be postponed to September. We will announce the new date on our homepage under our mediation offers.
Location: Atelier of the art space hase29
Children from the age of 5 create small works of art with the artists Nina Lükenga and Jessica Fleming from food packaging and leftovers of all kinds. While they create their pictures, objects and collages, their parents try out new dishes with guidance.
Costs per parent/child couple €8/
We ask for Sign in
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Helen Nintemann is known for her pan-African cuisine. Under her guidance, adults learn interesting facts about typical African foods and how to prepare them. In the 90-minute cooking course, delicious dishes are prepared, which are then eaten together with the children for dinner.
Natasha A Kelly Photo: Samia Rachel
#art freedom: Let's talk about ...
... with scientist, author and curator Natasha A. Kelly and the artists behind "Milli's Awakening"
Thursday, June 30, 2022 19 am - 21 pm
Location: Art space hase29 and live stream (Link will be announced on the homepage)
Free entry!
In cooperation with the Osnabrück Many
After a brief introduction to the making of the film "Milli's Awakening" (2018) by Natasha A. Kelly and Julia Scheck (Independent FilmFest Osnabrück / Die Osnabrück Many), the filmmaker talks to her protagonists Maseho, Nadu Hormann, Zari Harat and Patricia Vester, about their works shown in the exhibition, as well as about their experiences in the art and culture business before and after Corona.
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Nadu, Zari and Patricia are three of eight protagonists who, as Black FLINTA*, have in common that they live in Germany and work in an art context. Her biographical narratives in the documentary film “Millis Awakening” (2018), which is part of the exhibition, show how engaging with art (in all its manifestations) can serve as a “remedy” to alleviate lived emotional isolation and social oppression. In conversation with the filmmaker Natasha A. Kelly, the artists talk about their works shown in the exhibition and about their experiences in the art and culture business before and after Corona.
Malonda and after show party with DJ Grace Kelly
Concert, Saturday, July 01.07.2022st, XNUMX Admission from 18.30 p.m.
Free entry! We ask for a donation to help refugees.
Singer and songwriter MALONDA, daughter of a Congolese and a Sudanese, is not only in love with the music, but also conjures up catchy tunes on stage with the grace of Hildegard Knef or Grace Jones as an electric diva. For the exhibition catalogue, the artist contributed a text that deals with the decolonization of black female sexuality along the lines of her own biography. With her appearance, the text will now be expanded to include an audiovisual dimension: the video for her own song “Sexlied” will premiere in a concert staged in the exhibition. MALONDA will be accompanied by DJ Grace Kelly, who will then invite you to the after-show party.
Black. German. Feminine
Public Curatorial Tour with Natasha A. Kelly
Saturday, July 02, 2022, 11.30:13.30 p.m. - XNUMX:XNUMX a.m.
Free entry! We ask for Sign in
Photos: Angela von Brill
Photos: Angela von Brill
Milli's awakening
by Natasha A Kelly
Nadu, born in 1955, mask maker, Naomi, born in 1965, actress, or Maciré, born in 1995, student are three of eight protagonists who, as Black women*, have the center of their lives in Germany and work in an art context. Her biographical stories show to what extent dealing with art (in all its forms) can serve as a "remedy" to alleviate lived emotional isolation and social oppression. Because black women* have always been through the white male gaze eroticized and exoticized. In the works of many Expressionists, which are considered »classic«, they were merely depicted as »objects of desire«.
