Invitation to Covidentities 2020

 

Welcome to our annual visual anthropology celebration of student creativity at the School of Anthropology and Conservation at the University of Kent. This includes students on the BA Social Anthropology, BSC Anthropology, BA Cultural Studies and Social Anthropology, BA History and Anthropology, BSc Human Ecology and MA in Social Anthropology and Visual Ethnography. Students have produced diverse, engaged and personal short films and interactive web based projects on people and issues that matter to them. The title of the event hints at the obstructive and productive challenges presented by the pandemic and what it has revealed about our personal and collective identities. This year our students faced the added challenge of being in lock-down during a key period in the development and completion of their projects. Some lost relatives to the pandemic.

The usual screening event in the Gulbenkian is a highlight of the year for many of us. We present it this year online with the hope that many more people can join us and that we can gather old friends and alumni. Three collections of films and interactive websites integrates the impact of the pandemic through online discussions: 1. Communities, 2. Home & Away, and 3. Identity Trips. Each creates a conversation on a common theme through us finding links and the filling the gaps between them.

Films and interactive projects will be available to view online from the 3rd June. We recommend that you watch all the films and look at the websites from the same theme in one sitting before. Each requires about one hour. No films will be shown during the online event.

Our online event on the 10th June will include extended discussions, an alumni meet-up, a prize giving and online drinks. The discussions will be an opportunity for our filmmakers to speak about their and other films and for conversations to develop with those in the films, our international alumni, colleagues and friends. We welcome back Professor Hugh Brody and Dr Yasmin Fedda to award the Hugh Brody Visual Anthropology Prize and the New Horizons Prize. Dr Yasmin Fedda’s documentary film Ayouni, about two missing civilian activists in Syria, recently premiered at CPH: Dox Copenhagen. Professor Hugh Brody has been developing a major documentary project on cultural mapping in Canada. There will also be a Public Engagement Prize and an Alumni Award selected by prize winners from last year’s event.

You will need to register with Eventbrite to receive information of how to login with Zoom.

(1) COMMUNITIES

A diverse series of films explore the sense of community developed in a video club in France (Le Club Video), disconnection from loved one as a result of quarantine (20’s and Q…), camraderie and knowledge in a sailing club (Westbere Wednesdays), the cultural and community significance of teeth (Teeth), re-connecting unexpectedly to home in Pakistan and Japan because of the pandemic(The Transition & Covid 19) and thriving as a couple during the pandemic (A Couple in Corona). The interactive web projects explore plant based healing (Heal me Plantly), Jiu Jitsu communities (BJJC) and exchange, self-sufficiency and cohesion (Confused Planet).

To watch most of the films click here to view the session showcase.

If you also want to learn more about the films you can click on the links below.

Le Club Vidéo-Alix Mace

20’s and Quarantining in Europe -James Gallagher

Westebere Wednesdays-Isobel Howard

Teeth -Aishling Edwards

COVID-19 -Asomi Koishihara

The Transition -Aqdas Fatima

A Couple in Corona-Holly Maylin & George Cowell

 

Interactive Projects

Click on title links to explore.

Heal Me Plantly– Kai Greene

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Communities-Harry McQuade

Confused Planet– Lara Edwards

 

(2) HOME AND AWAY 

This session presents a contrasting series of portraits of a newly arrived family member (Clover), a father and sheep farmer (Another Hill), a inspirational grandmother (An Ordinary Life), remembering home through archival footage (The Golden Cage) to emotionally framed portraits of fellow students (Walls & Living With Generalised Anxiety and Panic Attacks). The interactive web projects explore the impact of the pandemic on a family business (Business Inception), an experimental and graphic representation of a person (Clockwork Wolf) and flowers and family (The Flower Market).

To watch all the films as part of a vimeo showcase click here.

If you also want to learn more about the films you can click on the links below.

Clover-Giles Malcolm

Another Hill– Becky Harrison

Living With Generalised Anxiety and Panic Attacks – Abby Day

An Ordinary Life– Millie Chadwick

Walls -Felicia Dean

 

To watch the Golden Cage please email msp@kent.ac.uk with ‘Password, your name, your surname’ in the subject to receive a password:

The Golden Cage-Ellie D.

Interactive Projects

Click on title links to explore.

Business Inception-Nicole Robson

Clockwork Wolf-Nicole Au Yeung

The Flower Market-Acacia Springer

 

 

 (3) IDENTITY TRIPS

Our final series of film meditate on a revealing journey of identity prompted by the pandemic (Stay Home), explore the benefits of attention to the menstrual cycle (Seasons Inside),  philosophically and poetically explore experience of time (Time and Myself), journey into Afrobeat via preparation for a performance cancelled because of the pandemic (Motherland), explores an Egyptian visual anthropologist’s long commitment to Nomadic Bedouins (Crawling on the Dust) and concludes with an auto-ethnographic and humorous exploration of an unexpected return home (Locked Down Shot). Interactive web projects aim to capture the essence of black identity touching on cultural assimilation and colourism (Black Is),  and a quest for ‘sea change’ through self exploration in Horniman museum exhibitions (Sea Change).

To watch all the films as part of a vimeo showcase click here.

If you also want to learn more about the films you can click on the links below.

Stay Home -Sarah Mazza

Seasons Inside-Olivia Haywood Smith

Time & Myself  -Andrea Cavallini

Motherland-Janice Yan Ying Yap

Crawling on the Dust-Farah Hallaba

Locked down shot-Ellie Kriel Daly

 

Interactive Projects

Click on title links to explore.

Black Is– Melissa Ngige

Sea Change– Chika Afam

 

Programme

Please register with eventbrite to get all the information you need to login with Zoom.

 

Discussions and Q and A

2.00 -2.50 pm  Introduction and Communities

We will open with a poem called Nightingale by Matt Rose (Whose Future? Whose Climate? Resolutionaries 2019)  out of respect for those who have died from Covid-19 and gratitude for the health and care workers who have treated and cared and continue to care for those suffering during the current pandemic.

3-3.40 pm  Home and Away

3.40-4.10  Current students and Alumni Meet-Up

4.15-4.55 pm  Identity Trips

 

5-6 Prize Giving

Public Engagement Prize-awarded by  Dr Daniela Peluso and Georgia Buckland (Recipient of the Resolutionaries Public Engagement Prize 2019)

Alumni Prize-awarded by prize winning alumni (Emilia Brumpton, Noemie Degiorgis,  Thomas Milroy & Kimberly Ubendran)  from Resolutionaries 2019

New Horizons Prize-awarded by Dr Yasmin Fedda

Hugh Brody Visual Anthropology Prize-awarded by Professor Hugh Brody

The prize giving will be recorded.

6-7 Online Drinks– To replace our post event drinks and food at the Gulbenkian we will meet online via Zoom. There will be the opportunity of smaller rooms and meeting places to meet the filmmakers and catch up with alumni.

 

For further information contact the organiser Dr Mike Poltorak on msp@kent.ac.uk

 

Top photo-Screenshots from Lock Down Shot by Ellie Kriel Daly and Seasons Inside by Olivia Haywood Smith