Petra Bauer exhibition, 'Sisters!'

A new video-installation, Sisters! is a collaboration between Swedish artist Petra Bauer and the Southall Black Sisters - the radical, pioneering London-based feminist organisation, who since 1979 have politically engaged in the contemporary social and political conditions of black and minority women.

Sisters! is not a film about the Southall Black Sisters, but is a two-way project between Bauer and the staff at the organisation. Documenting one week in the life of the organisation, the film takes their daily activities as a springboard for a visual discussion on feminism, politics and aesthetics in today’s society.

The film asks what happens when questions from the 1970s Women’s Liberation Movement (particularly those explored by feminist film collectives from the time) are posed in a contemporary political setting; and consequently what are the important feminist issues of today and what are the pressing issues for today’s black and minority women?

Petra Bauer’s films explore the possibilities of storytelling through the form of documentary making. Her interest lies in film as a political practice, and the role of moving images in the construction, presentation and representation of histories. Through her work she demonstrates how moving images can be seen as a space where social and political negotiations can take place.

Event: 'Places of Battles and Mutual Concerns', Saturday 1 October, 3-6pm
– a round-table discussion with Petra Bauer, Kodwo Eshun (The Otolith Group), Pragna Patel (Southall Black Sisters), and Nina Power (author and philosopher)