Home as Sanctuary as Body in a State of Siege
Film programme at Whitechapel Gallery as part of the Donald Rodney exhibition.
12 Feb 2025 - 4 May 2025
Accompanying the exhibition Donald Rodney: Visceral Canker, a free hour-long programme of contemporary artists’ film invites us to reflect on the concerns within Rodney’s work and its relevance and influence today. Taking its title from a statement in one of Rodney’s sketchbooks, the programme explores the politics of the body, particularly as it is impacted by modern technologies and mediated by constructs of race, gender and disability.
Contributing artists include: Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Hannah Black, James Gregory Atkinson, Yazan Khalili, Carolyn Lazard, Zinzi Minott, Shahryar Nashat and Camara Taylor.
The programme is curated by Richard Birkett, author of Donald Rodney: Autoicon (Afterall, 2023).
Please note some films contain images of nudity and sexual references. All films are captioned and visitors are welcome to enter Gallery 2 at any time during the screenings. On occasion, when there are other events in Gallery 2, films may be screened in the Zilkha Auditorium and Studio .
A Lament for Power, Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, 2020
Commissioned by Art Exchange, Colchester. Supported by Arts Council England.
Donald Rodney (b. 1961, West Bromwich; d. 1998, London) was a British artist. He was born to Jamaican parents, and grew up in Smethwick, on the outskirts of Birmingham. He studied Art Foundation at Bournville School of Art, Birmingham (1980–81); BA Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham (1981–85); and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Multi-Media Fine Art at Slade School of Fine Art in London (1987). Rodney first gained visibility as a member of the BLK Art Group in the early 1980s, through a series of exhibitions titled The Pan-Afrikan Connection (1981–84). Rodney’s solo exhibitions include Reimagining Donald Rodney, Vivid Projects, Birmingham (2016); Donald Rodney – In Retrospect, iniva, London (2008); 9 Night in Eldorado, South London Gallery (1997); Cataract, Camerawork, London (1991); Critical, Rochdale Art Gallery (1990); Crisis, Chisenhale Gallery, London (1989); The First White Christmas & Other Empire Stories, Saltley Print and Media, Birmingham (1985); and The Atrocity Exhibition & Other Empire Stories, Black Art Gallery, London (1986). Rodney’s work is in the collections of Tate Gallery, London; Arts Council England; the British Council; the Government Art Collection; Museums Sheffield; the National Galleries of Wales; South London Gallery; Wolverhampton Art Gallery; and Birmingham City Art Gallery.
Films:
Shahryar Nashat, Present Sore, 2016
HD colour video (vertical format) with sound, 8 mins 12 secs. Courtesy of the artist and Sylvia Kouvali, London/ Piraeus, Gladstone Gallery, New York/Brussels/Seoul and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles.
Camara Taylor, suspiration!, 2021
2K video with sound, 23 mins 43 secs. Courtesy of the artist.
Hannah Black, The Neck, 2014
HD colour video with sound, 3 mins 28 secs. Courtesy of the artist and Arcadia Missa, London
James Gregory Atkinson, 6 Friedberg-Chicago, 2021
4K Video with sound, 6 mins 16 secs. Courtesy of the artist.
Carolyn Lazard, Pre-Existing Condition, 2019
HD colour video with sound, 6 minutes. Courtesy of the artist
Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, A Lament for Power, 2020
HD colour video with sound, 13 mins 16 secs. Courtesy of the artists. Commissioned by Art Exchange, Colchester; supported by Arts Council England.
Yazan Khalili, All The Images Looked Real, 2019
HD colour video with sound, 6 mins 42 secs. Courtesy of the artist.
Zinzi Minott, Fi Dem III: Ancestral Interference, 2020
HD colour video with sound, 10 mins 36 secs. Courtesy of the artist. Commissioned by Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival; Spike Island, Bristol; and Transmission, Glasgow.