About this Event
To coincide with the Heong Gallery’s exhibition, Rasheed Araeen: A British Story, the college is hosting a screening of Rasheed Araeen’s seminal work, P**i Bastard (Portrait of the Artist as a Black Person). Executed in 1977 for an exhibition staged by ‘Artists for Democracy’, the work was a bold response to the racism and discrimination faced by immigrants, especially those from South Asia, in the UK during this period. The film formed part of Araeen’s body of heavily political pieces, which began in 1973 with the collage work For Oluwale. The film consists of a montage of images of Asian immigrants on Brick Lane, interspersed with press cuttings describing race related attacks, portraits of Araeen’s family, and his minimalist structures. The film is set to a soundtrack including Handel’s Messiah, music from Bollywood films and racist chants by members of the National Front. P*ki Bastard challenges viewers to confront uncomfortable truths and engage with the artist's political perspective on race and identity.
Following the screening, Dr Kareem Estefan, Assistant Professor of Film and Screen Studies at Cambridge, will offer some reflections on the work and its place in twentieth-century visual culture.
About the exhibition:
Rasheed Araeen: A British Story condenses Araeen’s artistic career into a representative selection of work across painting, collage, sculpture, and participatory installations. Works include Zero to Infinity, and his ‘Reading Room’ installation, which will offer visitors the opportunity to engage with the artist’s own writings, many of which were first published in the journal Third Text, which he founded in 1987. The show emphasizes the indivisibility of Araeen’s formal artistic language from his post-colonial political awareness and highlights his imaginative artistic responses to British political and cultural life over the last fifty years.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Howard Theatre, Downing College, Cambridge, United Kingdom
GBP 0.00
