black and white film still showing a woman with long hair in a city
Still from Ninna Nanna (Margaret Salmon, 2007), courtesy of the artist.

Affective Labour: confronting images of motherhood

31 January 2024, Clore Auditorium, Tate Britain

Challenging the demands of reproductive labour has long been at the heart of the feminist struggle, and the basis for many arresting works by artists across the decades. This is also the case for feminist artist filmmakers. The ground-breaking exploration of women’s lived experience through a multi-generational family portrait presented in Bred and Born (Mary Pat Leece/Joanna Davis, 1983) provides a point of reflection for the video work of Cate Elwes, and recent films by Margaret Salmon and Mary Martins.

Bred and Born (Mary Pat Leece/Joanna Davis, 1983) provides a point of reflection for the video work of Cate Elwes, and recent films by Margaret Salmon and Mary Martins. The artists will be in conversation.

Programme

Bred and Born (Mary Pat Leece/Joanna Davis, 1983).

Myth/There is a Myth (Catherine Elwes, 1984) 10 mins, video/video installation.

Ninna Nanna (Margaret Salmon, 2007), 8 minutes 16mm colour and b/w film transferred to digital.

The Divide (Mary Martins, 2016) 5 mins, 16mm film and stop-motion animation.

Catherine Elwes, Margaret Salmon and Mary Martins will be in conversation.

Through a Radical Lens is a moving image programme takes up the themes of Tate Britain’s current exhibition ‘Women in Revolt: Art, Activism and the Women Movement in the UK 1970-1990’ by a series of screening showing the film and videos practices of UK based feminist artists then and now. The Clore auditorium, and other London venues such as the BFI Southbank and Chelsea Space, become spaces for debate around moving image works already well regarded or rarely seen, screening archival restorations beside works recently made. The screenings and conversations of Through A Radical Lens revisit urgencies of the 1970s and 1980s which are still current today.

Programmed by Lucy Reynolds, with curatorial contributions from Club des Femmes, Karen di Franco for Chelsea Space, and Rachel Garfield and Will Fowler at BFI Southbank.  

For more information, visit tate.org.uk or book tickets here.