Rhea Storr

Madness Remixed

Rhea Storr

Josephine Baker

Madness Remixed explores the image of exoticism portrayed by Josephine Baker in a 1926 performance entitled The Madness of the Day in which Baker wore the infamous skirt, made of only bananas, that played into stereotypes of Black women as hyper-sexualised. Madness Remixed questions the conditions under which the skirt should be revived, considering that Beyonce, Miley Cyrus, and Diana Ross have all worn the same skirt more recently. 16mm film coated with latex and glitter – a fetishised medium in itself – is data-moshed with Baker in Siren of the Tropics (1927).

Here is the Imagination of the Black Radical

Rhea Storr

Afrofuturism and carnival as resistance at the Junkanoo festival in the Bahamas, from Aesthetica Art Prize winner Rhea Storr.

Junkanoo Talk

Rhea Storr

Junkanoo Talk investigates the language of celebration through carnival. It employs the techniques of costume crafting particular to Junkanoo - a carnival of the Bahamas. The sound is produced on the body and takes the rhythms of Rake 'n' Scrape music, also particular to the Bahamas. James Baldwin is quoted, speaking of the complexities of being an African American living in France, along with the Bahamian Tourism Minister who speaks of appropriation and the body as a voice.

A Protest, A Celebration, A Mixed Message

Rhea Storr

Celebration is protest at Leeds West Indian Carnival. Following Mama Dread's, a troupe whose carnival theme is Windrush immigration to the UK, we are asked to consider the visibility of black bodies in rural spaces.