Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora

Dr Barby Asante, Artist-in-Residence at LOATAD, will lead a workshop that will invite participants into the ways in which she uses writing as a collective and conversational practice in developing her film and performance works.

She will also be screening her recent films The Queen and the Black-Eyed Squint- Glasgow, The Arrival, The Tour and the Dream. Filmed in and around the Scottish city of Glasgow, these three films re-collect, re-activate and re-imagine moments in the lives of three Ghanaian women two real, and one fictional and how their lives have been impacted by legacies of coloniality, independence and experiences of being in and living in diaspora.

On 4th March 1957 Monica Amekoafia was crowned the first Miss Ghana. Her prize was a visit to London, which was captured in a Pathé newsreel. In 1967, Asante’s mother was captured in a photo with two other women. The photo, taken in a West African Student Union space in London, sees the women posing in front of a map of the world. In 1977 Ama Ata Aidoo’s debut novel Our Sister Killjoy was published. Also known as Reflections from a Black-Eyed Squint, Aidoo’s novel follows the story of Sissie, a young educated Ghanaian woman, who goes to Europe to ‘better’ herself and describes what she sees.

In the films Asante takes on the role of The Queen reflecting on stories of independence, diaspora and the ever present legacies of slavery and coloniality while the perceived innocence of an African beauty queen from a “new country” is slowly unravelling.

After the screening she will be in conversation with archivist, anthropologist and artist, Adjoa Armah.

This event is free, but registration is essential as seating is limited. Visit bit.ly/loatadba to book your place.

Image: Filming The Queen and the Black-Eyed Squint, July 2021. Photo Tiu Makkonen