University of East Anglia
LONDON LECTURES
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! ON VISIBILITY, VOICE AND THE POWER OF FILM
THURSDAY 14 MAY / 6:30PM Prof Eylem Atakav
London Lectures
About the speaker
Prof Eylem Atakav is Professor of Film, Gender and Public Engagement and Associate Dean for Internationalisation at UEA, Welcome to this special online where she teaches courses on London Lecture hosted by UEA, ‘Lights, camera, action! On visibility, women, Islam and Middle Eastern media. She is the recipient of a voice and the power of film’, with Society for Cinema and Media Prof Eylem Atakav. Studies award for her outstanding About this zine contribution to pedagogy, and Chair of the Teaching, Learning and This zine was produced by EggBox, Scholarship Knowledge Community in partnership with the UEA Events of NAFSA, a non-profit and Alumni teams. The work inside organisation for professionals in all has been produced by students areas of international education. and graduates of the University. Her film ‘Growing up Married’ It was commissioned to celebrate is an internationally acclaimed the multidisciplinary approach to documentary about forced marriage learning at UEA, and how this helps and child brides living in Turkey. The inform and inspire work across all 2016 film focuses on the stories four Faculties. of four women, highlighting their experiences and contributing to debates around this significant, complex and emotionally charged human rights issue, which has been largely silenced. ON VISABILITY, VOICE AND THE POWER OF FILM
LONDON LECTURES
A quick-fire Q&A with today’s speaker, Prof Eylem Atakav Why make ‘Growing up Married’? To make experiences of child brides visible and audible. What makes film a powerful medium? Its ability to travel internationally and to visualise stories. Film transcends languages and cultures and crosses nations. What’s your favourite documentary? I have many. But, Beeban Kidron’s ‘Sex, Death and the Gods’ (2011) very much inspired me to make ‘Growing Up Married’. What inspires you? Taking academic knowledge outside academia. Define academia (in a word)? Knowledge. Define activism (in a word)? Strength. What makes you angry? Patriarchal structures that are hard to change. And happy? The journey that this documentary had while travelling from one country to another. Also, the impact it has had on individuals, organisations, policymakers, and the media. Where do you feel most at home? Engaging with the public and taking academic work outside academia with the hope of making change possible. Prof Eylem Atakav
ELLIE ROBSON, ENGLISH LITERATURE - ‘17
When you create a piece of art, you pour yourself into it When you look at a piece of art, it can be easy to forget the multitude of influences which bring it into existence. Personal experiences, historical narratives, political acts and debates, stories of both internal and external warfare, the list is endless. You only see the finished product.
exploration of a topic which falls under the wider umbrella of ‘the humanities’, whether this be political, historical, or social. Can art function independently of these subjects? That’s a difficult question to answer, but I very much doubt it. Art is full of social and political commentary, at varying levels of subtlety. It brings light and visibility to narratives that would otherwise go unheard, and exposure to these narratives is crucial for the individual.
Similarly, when you look at a piece of art, it can be easy to forget how intertwined with the wider humanities artistic creations are. If I asked you what springs to mind when you hear the phrase ‘the arts’, you might say literature. Film, music, theatre.
When you create a piece of art, you pour yourself into it. Even when you recount a personal experience to a friend, you are creating art. The impression that your story makes is affected by the way you craft your words, your body language, the delivery of your narrative.
You think of these as self-contained entities, but most art acts as an
Emotion plays a starring role. When your art has been released
ON VISABILITY, VOICE AND THE POWER OF FILM
LONDON LECTURES
into the world, it takes on a new life. The audience becomes equally as important as yourself, as they take ownership of your creative property. A new challenge is presented in boosting the visibility of your work and curating public engagement. Does a piece of art really exist if nobody engages with it? All art is valuable, but pieces which grapple with challenging or upsetting issues have the potential to travel much further than their original source. Art increases wider engagement with points of social and political contention because it makes the material more accessible to those who don’t specialise in that specific sector. A painting, film, or novel is easier to work through than a dense academic essay, and probably isn’t hidden behind an elite institution or
unbreachable paywall. Particularly in our era of technology, a piece of art can be spread across the world in the time it takes you to make your breakfast in the morning. Discussing the value of art, or the ways which it can be distributed to the public, is fascinating, but why this is so important is even more so. Art can change lives. On a humanitarian level, art can heighten the awareness of a particular issue and generate a push for social change - think of all the art that has been born from the climate crisis. On an individual level, art can save somebody’s life. It can be a cry for help, or simply make them feel not so alone. Art is fundamental in representing and recording the human experience. Prof Eylem Atakav
DYLAN DAVIES, ENGLISH LITERATURE & CREATIVE WRITING – ‘18
we played your old videos i’m writing this to tell you we played your old videos at the funeral, even though you find them embarrassing. the file says 3-4-13. back then, you did not know the shape your body takes when it tries not to die. you didn’t think of death, renounced it; you knew only the camera, dad’s new nikon, fully charged, knew only that day seven years ago with its 8.1GB of meadow and sun – suns since, you give us back this day in shuddering video; you can live again. granddad cries the hardest. that’s because he keeps gran in an album, leather bound, lined thick with glossy snapshots of captured life: coffees, teas, years, children, boats, lounging sideways on a sofa, lithe with youth, or holding you, small and round as a reel –in photos her limbs are stiff as a new death. she cannot age. you do not grow, yet here, you alight into motion, grass cuttings shucked from reddened knees as you run, the wind lashing the camera with noise and, through it, your whistling laugh. you run from dad’s lens, flushed and grinning, hair wild as field flowers, still growing. when you spin, beneath there is no body, for this is you. 8.1GB of you. here you are. you can live again, and again, and again, and again. ON VISABILITY, VOICE AND THE POWER OF FILM
LONDON LECTURES
About the School of Art, Media and American Studies UEA’s School of Art, Media and American Studies brings together world-leading expertise in the visual arts and material culture, in film, television and media studies, and in the literature, history and culture of the United States. The School’s vibrant research community is currently home to twelve projects funded by UK Research Councils, including Prof George McKay’s internationally renowned project on cultural heritage and improvised music in European festivals, and Dr Wendy McMahon’s pioneering research exploring cultural resistance to natural hazards on the island of St Vincent.
Recognised for research excellence in the arts and humanities, these projects combine traditional and contemporary methodologies to address a wide range of social and cultural issues, both historically and in the present day. Another example of this can be found in Prof Sandy Heslop’s Leverhulme-funded project on the medieval churches of Norwich, which explores the ways in which people and places have shaped each other since the early Middle Ages. The School’s students enjoy outstanding facilities, from a bespoke television and media suite with AV support to the worldfamous Sainsbury Centre museum on campus. Prof Eylem Atakav
Despite the circumstances, we’ve enjoyed the chance to engage with our alumni, students and supporters virtually through our recent London Lectures. We’d like to continue to share our research with you via an online platform until we can meet again in person, and so are pleased to announce two further online London Lectures that will take place in June. On Thursday 11 June, Prof Corinne Le Quéré from the Faculty of Science will present on CO2, what we’ve learned from lockdown, and tackling climate change in a post-coronavirus world. And on Thursday 25 June, we’ll hear from infectious disease expert Prof Paul Hunter from the Faculty of Medicine and Health, who will take us beyond the soundbites and into an epidemiologist’s analysis of COVID-19. We hope you’ll join us. Book now: www.alumni.uea.ac.uk/alumni/ event-booking