Artists Anna-Maria Nabirye and Annie Saunders present their new multi-disciplinary work, Up in Arms, a new way to make space for conversation in our increasingly divided world.
Using ritual, photography and immersive theatre practice to create intimate conversation and radical social change, Up in Arms is a culmination of the artists’ work as activists, creative collaborators, black and white women respectively, and friends. The piece exists as an intimate experience in real time, a piece of live art and social practice, as they invite two friends to become audience-participants, a black woman and a person of her choice, to re-enact and re-create the iconic portrait of Dorothy Pitman-Hughes and Gloria Steinem captured by photographer Dan Wynn in 1971 for Esquire Magazine. The re-creation of this image acts as a ritual to open space for uncomfortable, challenging, transformative conversation, led by the artists. The resulting audio and video recordings and portraits will form an interactive visual exhibition, a curriculum, an interactive digital education app, and a book. At the IFFF Dortmund+Köln the artists will present a performative version of the work: »We’re showing up for the challenge of this conversation, and we hope you’ll join us. We’re learning a lot and are excited to share this emerging work with you«.