Coming off the back of global movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp, Objectifs’ fourth edition of its annual Women in Film & Photography program will explore the timely theme of collective power.
This year’s exhibition, screenings, and artist talks will focus on female photographers and filmmakers documenting societies around the globe — women who “seek to empower and effect change within and across communities through their work,” explains Emmeline Yong, the director of Objectifs and curator of this year’s Women in Photography.
The showcase will display works by six photographers, including Izumi Miyazaki‘s quirky self-portraits and Haley Morris-Cafiero‘s Wait Watchers, a series about body objectification, where the artist does mundane things in public and takes snapshots of the scene surrounding her.
As for Laura Boushnak, who was born to Palestinian refugee parents in Kuwait, her images in I Read I Write offers a peek into literacy in the lives of Arab women who want more for their children and their community, who are courageous enough to shatter social norms and look for options they’ve historically been prohibited from.
Then there’s local photojournalist Wong Maye-E and her spotlight on the sexual assault of Rohingya women in All I Have Left Are My Words — she traveled to the refugee camps in Bangladesh to interview 29 rape survivors and found unspeakable cruelty dealt at the hands of Myanmar’s military.
If you’re keen to find out more, the slideshow projection on Nov 8 (entry by donation) will spotlight the works of more international female photographers, followed by a question and answer session with artists from Women Photograph.
As for the Women in Film line-up, four feature films will see their Singapore debut, alongside a free short film program. Titles include Waru, a tale about eight Maori women and their outlook on child abuse, and a documentary called On Her Shoulders, chronicling the life of 23-year-old Nadia Murad, who survived genocide and sexual slavery by ISIS. Each screening will be followed by a discussion about the issues surfaced, shaped in a local context.
Women in Photography is on from Oct 5-Nov 18; Tues-Sat noon-7pm, Sun noon-4pm at Chapel Gallery, Objectifs. Free.
Women in Film screenings is on from Oct 10-13, 7:30pm at Chapel Gallery, Objectifs. $8/film, $25/season pass.
Women in Film short film program Oct 5-28 at Lower Gallery, Objectifs. Free.
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