Projections #9: A celebration, a protest – Rhea Storr x Makeda
Still from Here is the imagination of the black radical (2021)
The Australian premiere of Bahamian–British artist Rhea Storr’s acclaimed trilogy of films explored Caribbean carnival culture as a site of collective reverie and resistance.
Storr’s work screened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on 25 March 2023 as part of our Projections series, in dialogue with a newly commissioned live performance by Sydney-based musician, DJ and experimentalist Makeda Zucco.
About the artists
Rhea Storr explores Black and Mixed-race cultural representation with an interest in in-between states, translation and aesthetics. She is concerned with performance, costume and the politics of masquerade. Often working in photochemical film, Storr considers counter-cultural ways of producing moving images. Recent screenings include CPH:DOX, New York Film Festival, London Film Festival, European Media Art Festival, Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, and MOCA Los Angeles.
Makeda is a multidisciplinary artist living in Eora (so-called Sydney). Her work is focused in the sonic space – creating her own lucid soundscapes, scoring, djing and, most recently, songwriting. She has performed alongside artists including HTRK, Klein, Peggy Gou and Aisha Devi at festivals worldwide. Makeda’s recent performance work J’OUVERT (performed at Dark Mofo and ACMI) traces the history of the namesake Trinidadian festival which grew in secrecy from the slave liberation into a 4am street event. Part celebration, part rally, it commemorated those who had died and celebrated rebirth and independence.