This talk explores the shifting image of the Virgin Mary, how She became the focus of art and prayer and how the humanity of motherhood set the standard, for better or worse, for women throughout Europe. Â
Video Category: Identity
Power and Legacy of the OutcastÂ
Join us for an exploration of the lives of two women who refused to conform to society’s expectations of them as women. We will be exploring the legacy of Mexican artist and writer, Nahui Olin and African American writer, Zora Neale Hurston to understand how these revolutionary women were highly celebrated in the 1920’s and yet ended up being ostracised and forgotten.
The figure of the gangster in South African photography, literature and cinema
This talk will consider the representation of the gangster with regard to its manifestations in post-94 photography, literature, music and cinema. It will address the complexities at stake in the performance of the ‘urban hustler’ and masculine ‘anti-hero’ and explore the tropes of conformity, vulnerability and so-called ‘deviance’.
The Beauty of Ageing
 Join Samantha Allen for a body positive talk that reclaims our narrative on ageing. Understand why that opposition exists and why we need to create better, less invisible futures for ourselves as women.Â
Reclaiming the Female Body in Art
Explore artists from the 1970s to present day who challenged the norms of representation in an effort to give freedom to a new generation of women. In this session we will focus on artists such as Louise Bourgeois, The Gorilla Girls and Jenny Saville among others.
Trailblazers
Join Samantha Allen for a journey through history to uncover great inventions and explore ideologies created by Black men and women that have shifted, disrupted and challenged how we see and experience the world today.
Documents of Memory: South African photography in the 1980s
Documentary photography has retrospectively been associated with a progressive and liberal cause in South Africa. This photographic genre is inscribed within the 1980s and early 1990s, a moment in time when photography is widely considered as a ‘truth telling’ genre and an important source of documents articulated against the violence of the apartheid regime.
Sex in the City: Jeanne Mammen and Otto Dix’s 1920s BerlinÂ
This lecture looks at the work of two artists who explored these ‘new’ sexual expressions, Jeanne Mammen and Otto Dix, alongside the work of sociologist and activist Magnus Hirschfeld, founder of the Institute of Sexology.Â
Ancestral Trauma in Caribbean Culture
Join Samantha Allen to understand what ancestral trauma means for the British Caribbean community and how we can help to create spaces of safety and liberation in the workplace.Â
What does it mean to Succeed and Fail in Western Society
During this talk we will explore the concept of success and failure in Western society. What is behind these societal expectations? Are there better, healthier guiding principles to a happy life that we should be embracing for 2023?