German Studies Events
[PAST EVENT] Milli's Awakening: Virtual Screening and Discussion with Filmmaker Dr. Natasha Kelly
Location
Discussion on Zoom; stream 45-min film on your own beforehand
Milli’s Awakening (Natasha Kelly, 2018) profiles eight Black women artists living in Germany.
Stream the 45-minute film on your own, then join our discussion with Dr. Kelly on March 23, 3:30-4:30pm on Zoom (in English). Email [[decolonizing]] for links.
Open to all W&M students, faculty, and staff. Hosted by the Decolonizing Humanities Project and the German Studies program.
Nadu (born 1955) is a mask maker, Naomi (born 1965) is an actress and filmmaker and Maciré (born 1995) is a student and spoken word artist. They are three of eight women, who have the commonality of being Black, living in Germany and working in an art context. Their biographical narratives show to what extent art (in all its manifestations) can serve as a »remedy« to alleviate lived emotional isolation and social oppression. For centuries, Black women have been eroticized and exoticized by the white male gaze. In the works of many German Expressionists, who are regarded as »European classics«, Black women were merely portrayed as »objects of desire«. The renowned painter Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880 - 1938), for example, was less interested in exploring the anatomy of the female body. Rather, he wanted to feel his own manhood through the alleged »bondage to nature« of his motives. In 1911, at the height of German colonialism he painted »Sleeping Milli« naked on a couch. The only source of his inspiration was his male sense of eroticism.
While numerous art historians take the aesthetics as well as the sexual fantasies of Kirchner in the focus, the documentary film wants to immerse in the thought and emotions of his »muse« and let Milli awake figuratively. In interviews with the director, Black female artists of various generations, who have overcome the common colonial stereotypes and have formed their own self-determined identity as Black Women within the white German majority society report on their challenges in and with German art institutions, visual representation and political and social exclusion. Where can we build on their experiences? Which strategies can be brought together? Which must be re-thought? Thus, art does not only form the architecture of the film, but is also presented as the foundation for the social and political activism of the project participants. In the bilingual publication of the same name, the conducted interviews are printed in their full length. The aim is to show the importance of artistic creation from a Black feminist perspective.
We are delighted to present this beautiful and important film, which is not commercially available, and to speak with Dr. Kelly about her work. Dr. Kelly is also an activist, a sociologist, and the author of books about Black feminism, Afrofuturism, Black German history, and structural racism. For more, visit Dr. Kelly's website.
Contact
[[rellis01]]