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Pan-African Interventions in the Museum + Panel Discussion (15)

Project a Black Planet

,Cinema 3
A woman and artworks in front of her

A landmark selection of films that examine how museums have shaped, and often suppressed, African cultural histories. 

Anchored by You Hide Me by Nii Kwate Owoo, the works expose the conditions under which African artefacts have been removed, stored, and obscured within Western institutions. From the searing critique of Statues Also Die by Alain Resnais, Chris Marker and Ghislain Cloquet, to the poetic resistance of Sarah Maldoror’s Et les chiens se taisaient, the programme traces a lineage of filmmakers challenging the authority of the museum and the narratives it produces.

Extending into the present, films by Hope Strickland and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa reflect on how these structures continue to operate, while Stan Lathan’s Statues Hardly Ever Smile further complicates the politics of representation and display. Claudette’s Star by  Ayo Akingbade, reflects on young artists encountering works within the gallery, inspired by painter Claudette Johnson.

Tagged with: Cinema Project a Black Planet Film Season

The screening will be followed by panel discussion with Ayo Akingbade, Hope Strickland and Daniel Owusu.

Book two or more films in the Project a Black Planet film programme at the same time and get 20% off.

Programme

You Hide Me, Nii Kwate Owoo, Ghana, 1970, 17 mins

I’ll Be Back!, Hope Strickland, UK, 2022, 11 mins

Statues Also Die, Alain Resnais, Chris Marker & Ghislain Cloquet, France, 1953, 30 mins

Et les chiens se taisaient, Sarah Maldoror, France, 1978, 13 mins

A short video about Tate Modern, Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, UK, 2003, 5 mins

Statues Hardly Ever Smile, Stan Lathan, USA, 1971, 20 mins

Claudette’s Star, Ayo Akingbade,  United Kingdom,  2019, 6 min

Panel

Daniel Owusu is a London-based artist working across drawing, writing, and filmmaking. His practice is concerned with memory, storytelling, and the construction of language, often exploring how narratives are formed, fragmented, and shared across time and communities.

Alongside his artistic work, Owusu has developed projects engaging with ideas of remembering and forgetting within institutional and material contexts, including research into the museum as a site shaped by both assembly and disassembly. As a host, he brings a thoughtful, interdisciplinary approach to conversation, drawing connections between artistic practice, history, and lived experience.

Hope Strickland is a British-Jamaican artist-filmmaker and researcher from Manchester, working across experimental and documentary modes. Their practice explores racialised violence, postcolonial ecologies, and diasporic histories, often moving between archival, analogue, and digital forms to examine how images shape understandings of Black life and memory.

Strickland’s work has screened internationally at festivals including the BFI London Film Festival, New York Film Festival, and International Film Festival Rotterdam, and has been presented at institutions such as the Serpentine Galleries and Arnolfini. They are the recipient of the Aesthetica Emerging Art Prize (2023) and are currently completing a practice-based PhD in Film, alongside teaching as an Associate Lecturer at the Royal College of Art.

Ayo Akingbade is an artist and filmmaker based in London. She has made twenty short films, ranging from experimental hybrids to more conventional narratives.


 

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Cinema 3

Location
Barbican Cinema 1 is located within the main Barbican building on Level -2. Head to Level G and walk towards the Lakeside Terrace where you’ll find stairs and lifts to take you down to the venue floor.   

Address
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS

Public transport
The Barbican is widely accessible by bus, tube, train and by foot or bicycle. Plan your journey and find more route information in ‘Your Visit’ or book your car parking space in advance.