About women in art: Guerrilla Girls

Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum? 

1989  © courtesy www.guerrillagirls.com 

As part of my research around the 'Still I Rise' exhibition at the Arnolfini Art Gallery, in Bristol, on feminisms, gender and resistance, I'd like to share this video, by this collective of female artists:

Guerrilla Girls – 'You Have to Question What You See' | Artist Interview | TateShots

The Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community. The group employs culture jamming in the form of posters, books, billboards, and public appearances to expose discrimination and corruption. To remain anonymous, members don gorilla masks and use pseudonyms that refer to deceased female artists.

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Find out more about the Guerrilla Girls here: https://goo.gl/vuGD7v

Guerrilla Girls is an anonymous group of feminist, female artists devoted to fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group formed in New York City in 1985 with the mission of bringing gender and racial inequality into focus within the greater arts community. The group employs culture jamming in the form of posters, books, billboards, and public appearances to expose discrimination and corruption. To remain anonymous, members don gorilla masks and use pseudonyms that refer to deceased female artists. According to GG1, identities are concealed because issues matter more than individual identities, "[M]ainly, we wanted the focus to be on the issues, not on our personalities or our own work."

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More recent video:

Guerrilla Girls Talk about 'The History Of Art' vs. 'The History Of Power'

Members of the anonymous feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls stopped by The Late Show to talk about the 30 years they've spent trying to make the art world more inclusive.

Reflecting on ‘Still I Rise’

12 November 2019, Arnolfini Gallery 

Reflecting on ‘Still I Rise’ – at the Arnolfini – By Melissa Chemam

I’ve moved to Bristol in late September, after years spent coming here almost every month.

This residency at the Arnolifini Gallery – along the current ‘Still I Rise’ exhibition – has already been a highlight of my explorations in town. Around themes such as rebellion, creativity, identity, history, culture & multiculturalism. 

My first blog post – that I’ll discuss on the 30^th of November at the Arnolfini – should (hopefully) act as an introduction to my writing. 

The next step is to write other entries for this residency, around these three main issues:

-Feminism for people of colours and community groups who don’t feel included;

-Resistance in the context of convergence: women and men, European people and non-European people need to rethink this world in order to bring change… And art is a wonderful tool to help in achieving this goal;

-The role of fiction in representing resistance and feminist roles/figures.

I will post these texts during the weeks following my talk/tour on the 30^th of November and until early next year, 2020. 

As I’ve discussed with people working at the Arnolfini, people I’ve met in the exhibition, and others I’ve invited to join me here, I’ve come to the conclusion that resistance and feminism in particular are facing a few challenges nowadays, counter-resistance, the repetitive rise of non-progressive powers, inequalities, and the lack of discussion between the different communities in our city and our nation. 

One obsessive question resulting in this internal dialogue is indeed: How did we end up in such intolerant times in the western world after decades of exploration abroad and important sociological changes?

I hope I’ll have more answers to provide by then, but in the meantime all I can promise is some interesting storytelling… 

I believe in the power of stories to address the complexity of our era. And hopefully, they’ll bring in some light to these questions, dealing with the issues of gender, protests, and resistance. 

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Come to the talk/tour!

TOUR | WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE: 

MELISSA CHEMAM

Saturday, 30th November 2019, 16:00 to 18:00
Free → Book

Join our writer-in-residence for a special reading tour of Still I Rise.

We are delighted to have Melissa Chemam working with us as writer-in-residence throughout Still I Rise. On this tour, she will link pieces of writing to a selection of artworks currently exhibited in our galleries.

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Freelance journalist/reporter, radio producer and writer, Melissa Chemam has been presenting her work for print, television and radio since 2004. She has reported for the BBC World Service, Reuters, DW, France 24, and Vox Africa, among others; while her writing has been featured in The Public Art Review, Transfuge Magazine, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Skin Deep, The Bristol Cable, Bristol 24/7, CIRCA Art Magazine, Public Pressure, and The Times Literary Supplement.

Writing is her favoured means of expression, covering literature, the arts, music, but especially social change, migration issues & international politics. Passionate about travel, she has lived in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi, Bangui (in Central African Republic), Bristol, and Paris (where she was born in 1980). She has travelled to more than 14 African countries in the past 10 years, and 40 countries worldwide.

Her first book published, ‘Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone’, on Bristol’s music, art and politics, was released in the UK in March 2019 by Tangent Book.

You can find out more about her work on her website http://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/

My next event!!

I'll see you at the Arnolfini Gallery by the end of the month.

I'll come down to to tell you more about their current exhibition on feminism and resistance, 'Still I Rise', and the writing that I'm working on for the gallery.

It's currently all work-in-progress, but the first text is ready!
I'll posted it here on Sunday 1st of December, the day after this tour/talk...

See you soon, hopefully...



SATURDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2019

TOUR | WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE- MELISSA CHEMAM — Arnolfini

Join our writer-in-residence for a special reading tour of Still I Rise.

TIME:16:00 

PRICE: Free E-Tickets

INFORMATION:

We are delighted to have Melissa Chemam working with us as writer-in-residence throughout Still I Rise. On this tour, she will link pieces of writing to a selection of artworks currently exhibited in our galleries.

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Freelance journalist/reporter, radio producer and writer, Melissa Chemam has been presenting her work for print, television and radio since 2004. She has reported for the BBC World Service, Reuters, DW, France 24, and Vox Africa, among others; while her writing has been featured in The Public Art Review, Transfuge Magazine, Le Figaro, Le Monde, Skin Deep, The Bristol Cable, Bristol 24/7, CIRCA Art Magazine, Public Pressure, and The Times Literary Supplement.

Writing is her favoured means of expression, covering literature, the arts, music, but especially social change, migration issues & international politics. Passionate about travel, she has lived in Prague, Miami, London, Nairobi, Bangui (in Central African Republic), Bristol, and Paris (where she was born in 1980). She has travelled to more than 14 African countries in the past 10 years, and 40 countries worldwide.

Her first book published, 'Massive Attack – Out of the Comfort Zone', on Bristol's music, art and politics, was released in the UK in March 2019 by Tangent Book.

You can find out more about her work on her website http://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/

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Book here: https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/#date=2019-11-30&event_id=58794

SATURDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2019TOUR | WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE- MELISSA CHEMAM — Arnolfini

https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/#date=2019-11-30&event_id=58794

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On the Arnolfini's website:

https://arnolfini.org.uk/whatson/tour-writer-in-residence-melissa-chemam/

Back from Lorient

Summary of my week in France

Aux origines du genre "Trip-Hop": de la naissance du son d'une ville, Bristol

Une conférence de Melissa Chemam

Melissa Chemam, qui a passé plusieurs années à Bristol pour l'écriture de son livre En dehors de la zone de confort (éditions Anne Carrière), raconte la naissance d'une musique qui a changé la bande son de la fin du 20e siècle. 

Baptisée 'Bristol Sound' ou 'trip-hop', le son de Bristol mêle une base hip-hop et rap avec un groove soul et des rythmes venus du reggae, saupoudrée d'influences comme le post-punk et la musique électronique. 

Si tout commence en 1989/1990 avec l'album Blue Lines de Massive Attack, ce son a fermenté pendant des années d'expérimentation au sein de la scène underground de Bristol où graffeurs et rappeurs se mêlaient dans un melting pot culturel créé par des décennies de migrations. Massive Attack a depuis influencé largement la scène musicale, de Tricky à Portishead, mais aussi de Londres et bien au-delà. Leur leader, qui donne peu d'interviews, est le principal personnage du livre de Mélissa Chemam, avec lequel elle a échangé et discuté pendant des mois. Une trentaine d'artistes ont également été interviewés pour retracer cette histoire. 

Diplômée de l'École de journalisme de Sciences Po, Mélissa Chemam a travaillé pour France 24, la BBC, RFI, France Culture et pour des magazines dont Le Monde des Religions, la Public Art Review, Tsugi ou encore Transfuge. Elle est aujourd'hui basée en Angleterre, travaille régulièrement pour la BBC, et écrit sur l'art, la musique, les liens postcoloniaux et le changement social.

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Pour réécouter :

http://mediatheque.lorient.bzh/index.php?id=13461&fbclid=IwAR2ZAWzr_2dopMEsQb1ZOPp5dbaIPkwNNrLXrv5qlhLSyyY7WSZtzGI0FNQ

11/11

Another of these days... Where we commemorate our "heroes" and the wounds these wars have left in our lives and our continent, Europe.

While it's dividing further and further, it's hard not to be worried.

But our job is to focus on the good in people, what's been accomplished, what can change the world positively.

That's why, as a journalist, I've been really happy to be asked to work with the Royal British Legion last summer. 

The campaign is out now and resonates especially in this day, 11 November.

Anita's story

Anita talks about how we helped her husband Daughter adapt to civilian life. For more information visit www.rbl.org.uk

For any mother it can be hard when your child decides to sign up and join the military. 

But for Anita it was more difficult when all three of her children signed up to join the Army in their late teens.

Three children in the Army

Anita’s eldest son Mark signed up as an Army reservist, whilst her other son Tom and daughter Becky joined the Army as Regulars.

Becky was just 19 when she signed up in 1999 after she was inspired by her brother’s passing out parade.

“I went to his pass out parade and I felt quite proud. And that's when I got my urge to join,” Becky says.

Which came as a surprise to her mum Anita.

“It was a shock because signing up is quite a big thing,” Anita says. 

“I was proud that she'd found something that she wanted to do. But I was also very anxious because I know what going into the Army can mean.

“I didn’t want to discourage her, I wanted to be there for her. It’s important that whatever all three of my children have done, they know they have my support.

“Particularly with Becky, I’ve really wanted to be supportive because I could see issues that could come for her in the long term, the fact that she’s a woman going into a man’s world, what she’s signing up to is a whole new world that I’ve never been involved with," Anita adds.

“You ask yourself, should I let them go? But at the same time, they’re doing what they want to do and so my support is needed, and my encouragement, and just being there for them.

“But it is difficult because you want to be in contact with them, but you know that wherever they go, it’s not as easy as picking up the phone or popping round to see them, it’s a case of waiting to hear from them, especially in the first few weeks of going into the military. 

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Liam had always wanted to join the Army. 

His great grandfathers both fought in the First World War and his father served in the Paratroopers. He was captivated by their stories when he was a young boy.

Liam's story

Liam talks about how his service impacted his service. For more information visit: www.rbl.org.uk

“It's just something I always wanted to do. It was one of those things the money's good, you meet new people and you get to go around the world.”

“The Army was always the path I wanted to follow and I never envisaged doing anything else from a young age,” he said.

Liam joined the Army in 2002 and served with a cavalry regiment - the Light Dragoons - deciding not to follow his fathers’ footsteps as he “didn't fancy jumping out of aeroplanes.”

He was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and then Afghanistan in 2007.

“I don’t think I appreciated emotionally how it affected everyone at home,” Liam says.

“My dad had been in the army so I assumed my dad would be cool with it, he’d understand because he lived the life, but I’m an only child and he sent his only son off to go and do the job he’d been doing for the last 20 years.

“I don’t think I appreciated how hard it hit my mum until very recently, until I had my son. It’s hard to talk to my mum about it because I know it affected my mum quite hard and I don’t think I ever really appreciated that.”

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Linda's story

Linda talks about how we helped her husband Mike, and their family. For more information visit: www.rbl.org.uk

Life as a military wife

Linda Kiff’s first experience of life in the military was when she married her husband Mike after they met while he was on leave in her hometown of Bournemouth. The couple married in 2006 and have two children.

It can be difficult for people to relate to the struggles faced by military families. 

The months away from loved ones, the worry of those left behind. Unless you’ve been there, it can be hard to fully understand.

"My first encounter of the military was through Mike and being his wife. It was definitely a different experience to what I ever thought it would be,” Linda says. “I suppose I didn't really know what to expect.” 

“I’d never had a military background, I knew nothing. Mike came from a military background with his father being in the services. 

“I had no idea how quick changing it is, how you can have a friend one minute, someone that you would happily talk to for hours and then that persons gone… because they’ve moved to somewhere and you can’t get hold of them.”

Mike’s time in the Army saw him deployed to the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan and for a time the family were based in Germany. It was there that reality hit for Linda, that life as a military family abroad would be very different.

“I think it really hit home when we got to Germany. When he went away for months on end with all his training for Afghanistan. He'd been away before, but it was never a month away then back home for a day then another month away," Linda says.

“The community for the children I could never say anything bad about. But I think for women, for the mums and of course some dads left behind, I think it can be tricky because you just don't know what to do.

“You just wait. As much as the day continues, every day you go to bed wondering, am I going to get a message? Am I going to get a phone call? Is someone going to knock on my door?

“There’s a lot of questions going through your head whilst you’re thinking that you just want your loved one home.”

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More here: https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/stories/having-a-husband-in-the-army

TV : Banksy à Bristol

ARTEInvitation au voyageBanksy à Bristol

https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/093262-000-A/a-bristol-banksy-fait-le-mur/

Linda Lorin nous emmène à la découverte de notre patrimoine artistique, culturel et naturel. Dans ce numéro : À Bristol, Banksy fait le mur - Irréductibles chrétiens turcs de Mardin - L’aveuglante beauté de Ceylan.

À Bristol, Banksy fait le mur
À Bristol, les murs ont des airs de musée à ciel ouvert. Graffs, collages, pochoirs : les façades de la ville ont révélé l’irrévérencieux Banksy, qui y a grandi. Le mystérieux artiste a puisé dans l’histoire de l’ancien port négrier et son identité métissée de quoi nourrir une œuvre à part.

Tamino - 'Every Pore'

Tamino - 'Every Pore' (Live at Jet Studio ft. Nagham Zikrayat Orchestra)

Lyrics: 
Darling, be by the door Let your heart in, and I’ll kiss every pore If I could always have you around There’s a tune here, but it has no sound But your heart is where mine lies Darling just calm me with your voice Let your heart sing, how I always enjoy When you say 'always' is not a word You think love is a bit absurd But your heart is where mine lies



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Listen to 'Every Pore' on the Deluxe edition of Tamino's debut album 'Amir' here: https://tamino.lnk.to/AmirDLX

Banksy and the separation wall in Palestine

This video shows Banksy painting his stencils on the "segregation"/separation wall, which separates Israel from Palestine:

We'll talk about more in details on Saturday, 9 November, at La Colonie, Paris 10e.


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Samedi 915h30 à 18h

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Border Wall Aesthetics - Œuvres d'art dans les espaces frontaliers

30 ans après la chute du mur de Berlin, nous vivons à l'ère de la mondialisation et du libre-échange. Néanmoins, 70 nouveaux murs frontaliers ont été construits au cours de cette période - ensemble, ils couvriraient la circonférence totale de la Terre. Mais est-ce seulement l'attrait de la transgression qui les attire - ou y a-t-il une signification plus profonde dans la rencontre artistique avec les murs de la frontière ?

Avec Elisa Ganivet, Melissa Chemam (journaliste, auteure de En dehors de la zone de confort, De Massive Attack à Banksy, l’histoire d’un groupe d’artistes, de leur ville, Bristol, et de leurs révolutions) et  Marco Godinho (artiste).

Lien: http://lacolonie.paris/agenda/2019/novembre/border-wall-aesthetics-uvres-dart-dans-les-espaces-frontaliers-evenement-autour-du-livre-de-elisa-ganivet/

De Bristol à la Bretagne...

Je quitte l'ouest anglais pour un petit tour de 5 jours en France, avec en fin de semaine, cette rencontre à Lorient :

Mélissa Chemam : 
de la naissance du son d’une ville, Bristol

Traverser la Manche et écouter Bristol.

Melissa Chemam qui a passé plusieurs années à Bristol pour l’écriture de son livre En dehors de la zone de confort (Éditions Anne Carrière), racontera la naissance d’une musique qui a changé la bande son de la fin du 20e siècle.

Baptisé ’Bristol Sound’ ou ’trip-hop’, le son de Bristol mêle une base hip-hop et rap avec un groove soul et des rythmes venus du reggae, saupoudrée d’influences comme le post-punk et la musique électronique. Si tout commence en 1989/1990 avec l’album Blue Line de Massive Attack, ce son a fermenté pendant des années d’expérimentation au sein de la scène underground de Bristol où graffeurs et rappeurs se mêlaient dans un melting pot culturel créé par des décennies de migrations.

Massive Attack a depuis influencé largement la scène musicale, de Tricky à Portishead, mais aussi de Londres et bien au-delà. Leur leader, qui donne peu d’interviews, est le principal personnage du livre de Mélissa Chemam, avec lequel elle a échangé et discuté pendant des mois. Une trentaine d’artistes ont également été interviewés pour retracer cette histoire.

Diplômée de l’École de journalisme de Sciences Po, Mélissa Chemam a travaillé pour France 24, la BBC, RFI, France Culture et pour des magazines dont Le Monde des Religions, la Public Art Review, Tsugi ou encore Transfuge. Elle est aujourd’hui basée en Angleterre, travaille régulièrement pour la BBC, et écrit sur l’art, la musique, les liens postcoloniaux et le changement social.

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My interview with Seamus Murphy, about his work with PJ Harvey

‘A DOG CALLED MONEY’ 

 by Seamus Murphy, with PJ Harvey

I interviewed Seamus Murphy for the new cultural magazine WhyNow:

https://whynow.co.uk

Check them, brilliant work!

You need a subscription to read the content but it's really worth it.

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Here is an introduction to my first story for them...

SEAMUS MURPHY TOOK PJ HARVEY ON THE ROAD… AND THE RESULT IS BRILLIANTLY UNIQUE

By Melissa Chemam

Irish photographer and filmmaker Seamus Murphy had a flawless career in photojournalism that took him all over the world, from Afghanistan to the Balkans and more recently Syria. 

Then one day a musician crossed his path and they decided to work together. He hadn’t listened to her music much… but she was very keen to try collaborating. 

That musician was PJ Harvey and their work gave a few unexpected promo music videos (in 2010) and now a music documentary. ‘A Dog Called Money’ is much more that a music film though, it is a film about creativity, this troubled world and about how we learn to relate to one another. 

A profoundly touching and reflective piece of work. 

I spoke to Seamus just before the cinema release on 1^st November.

Read here: https://whynow.co.uk 

Read here: https://whynow.co.uk