Power & Identity: Five Women Filmmakers
Curated by Cherie Federico, Director, Aesthetica Magazine
Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate
1st – 30th September
Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30am until 5pm | Admission Free

September sees an exciting new venture for the Mercer. In partnership with York-based international contemporary arts organisation Aesthetica, the gallery will show a specially curated programme of works by five contemporary women filmmakers.
Time-Based Media, refers to art that is dependent on technology and has a durational dimension, for example video, film, audio or digital. The Mercer has only recently developed the facilities to show this type of exhibition.

Founder and Director of Aesthetica, Cherie Federico has curated a bold selection of work by five international artists, all of whom have received Aesthetica awards at previous stages of their prestigious careers.

The five films explore themes such as colonial legacies, nation building, diaspora, the ethics of representation, and the impact of war. They reflect the human experience, with moments of joy and euphoria, as well as pain and loss.

The five artists are: Rhea Storr, Michelle Williams Gamaker, Jasmina Cibic, Manjinder Virk, Juliana Kasumu

The five films will be played on 75minute loop and the audience members can sit for its entirety, of for as many of the short films as desired.
Content Guidance; Adult themes discussed, viewer discretion is advised


Rhea Storr, an artist of British and Bahamian heritage, examines her identity as a multiracial person in her short film A Protest, A Celebration, A Mixed Message. Storrs intersperses contemporary and historical footage of the West Indian Carnival in Leeds.

She is resident at Somerset House, London and occasionally programs at Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival. She is the winner of the Aesthetica Art Prize 2020 and the inaugural Louis Le Prince Experimental Film Prize. She was educated at Oxford University and the Royal College of Art
Length 12 mins


Known for her inventive filmmaking and screenwriting, Michelle Williams Gamaker draws on the classic movies from early Hollywood and British cinema that she watched growing up. Thieves is a fantasy adventure retelling of The Thief of Bagdad, a silent, black and white film from 1924, which was remade in colour in 1940.

Michelle Williams Gamaker is a Sri-Lankan British award-winning moving image artist. Since 2014, she has been developing Fictional Activism: the restoration of marginalised film stars of colour as central figures, who return in her works as brown protagonists to challenge the fictional injustices to which they have been historically consigned.
Length 27 mins


Jasmina Cibic’s film Tear Down and Rebuild (2015) was shot inside the preserved modernist architecture of the former Palace of the Federation in Belgrade, Serbia (formerly part of Yugoslavia). It presents a debate around arguments to rebuild, renovate, or destroy buildings, monuments, and cultural icons that no longer serve contemporary political contexts.

Cibic’s film features an all-female cast; a Nation Builder, a Pragmatist, a Conservationist and an Artist/Architect. The film’s dialogue is composed from quotes drawn from various political speeches. The sources for the script include amongst others: Regan’s speech on the Berlin Wall, Prince Charles’s 1984 address at RIBA and ISIS bloggers’ proclamation on the demolishment of temples as well as examples from Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Benito Mussolin.
Length 15 mins 28 sec


Manjinder Virk’s award-winning Out of Darkness explores the experience of death through the eyes of one Aid Worker. The narrative is made up of nine different voices, each of whom represents a lost soul who haunts the conscience of the worker. Collectively, the figures tell a story of what it means to be in the presence of someone’s last moments, from the peaceful passing of family members to the traumatic injuries of war – and the legacy it leaves on the living.

Actors include, Riz Ahmed a British Pakistani actor, rapper, and activist who’s made history as the first Asian star to win an acting prize at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Jimmy Akinbola, recently seen in the coveted role of 'Geoffrey', trusted advisor to Phil and the Banks family in Bel-Air and Tom Hiddleston known for his breakthrough role as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Out of Darkness won Best of Festival and Best Drama awards at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Other shorts from Virk include the documentary 23 Days (2020), made during lockdown, and Things We Never Said (2022) – she is developing the latter into her first feature-length film.
She will soon be making her television directorial debut for Emmerdale (ITV) and in 2024, she launched her own production outfit with writer/director Neil Biswas called Riverbird Films, which will make content for both international and UK broadcast and streaming services.
Length 12 mins 45 sec


“What Does the Water Taste Like?” is a short film directed by Juliana Kasumu, which explores the production of identity through the lens of the filmmaker’s personal experiences as a British-Nigerian. It combines intimate conversations with archival footage and contemporary visuals to create a dialogue between the past and present.

Juliana Oluwatosin Kasumu is a Nigerian-British artist and filmmaker based in London, Lagos, and New Orleans.
Length 7 min 59 sec