Join us for an evening of short films commissioned for the exhibition Dancing Before the Moon at the British Pavilion at the La Biennale di Venezia’s 18th International Architecture Exhibition and curated by the Loeb/ArtLab Fellow Joseph Zeal-Henry. This film program explores everyday rituals for diaspora communities in the United Kingdom and their influence on the built environment. Concluding the program will be a discussion between British-Jamaican filmmaker Joseph Douglas Elmhirst, producer Ruby Elmhirst, and Zeal-Henry about the semi-autobiographical film Burnt Milk (2023).
RSVP is requested; the screening is free and open to all. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
Dancing Before the Moon (2023) observes various rituals performed by the global diaspora in Britain, relating to the appreciation of the land, community values, and sharing space. Combining new footage shot around the UK and rarely-seen archival footage, this film reminds us of our transformative power over our environment, irrespective of race, culture, and socio-economic circumstances.
Zimmers of Southall 2 (2023), directed by photographer Hark1karan, is an authentic view into the lives and rituals of female Punjabi classic-car BMW fanatics in West London. This film explores the role of the Zimmer as an empowering ritualistic object for the female drivers to hold space in the city.
Burnt Milk (2023) centers around a monologue by Una (voiced by Tamara Lawrance), an isolated Jamaican woman in London around 1985. As she takes a moment of solace to make a common Caribbean dessert, she is flooded with spiritual imagery that takes her home.
In Burnt Milk, Joseph Douglas Elmhirst pays homage to the Windrush generation, the first large wave of Caribbean immigrants to arrive in the United Kingdom following the devastation of World War II. They were tasked with rebuilding the broken nation, laying roads, driving buses, cleaning hospitals, and nursing the sick.
Joseph Zeal-Henry (Loeb/ArtLab Fellow, 2024) is a designer, urbanist, and curator whose practice advocates for a more equitable built environment through policy and cultural production. His unique multi-disciplinary practice bridges public service and art. Joseph Zeal-Henry has written for Dezeen, Casabella, and Architectural Review. In addition to his role with the Greater London Authority’s Culture Team, he is a co-founder of Sound Advice, an ‘extra-institutional’ platform exploring new forms of spatial practice through music. In 2022, the British Council selected Joseph to co-curate the British Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023 alongside Jayden Ali, Meneesha Kellay, and Sumitra Upham. Their pavilion, Dancing Before the Moon, explores the need for architecture to look beyond buildings and economic structures and toward everyday social practices, customs, and traditions to reflect how people use and occupy space meaningfully. Joseph works for the mayor of London in the Culture and Creative Industries Unit, delivering new cultural infrastructure for the city. He works on the New London Museum, East Bank, and the Thames Estuary Production Corridor. He co-founded the social enterprise platform Sound Advice alongside Pooja Agrawal to explore new forms of spatial practice through music. In 2020, they published the book NOW YOU KNOW. He is a trustee of UD Music, a charity that empowers and harnesses opportunities for young people through Black music culture.
Joseph Douglas Elmhirst is a British-Jamaican Filmmaker based in New York. His directorial debut, Mada (2020), received critical acclaim. His work often centers around characters coming into their power and exploring complex themes such as misogyny and religion. He has shown a particular interest in setting his films in Jamaica and following female protagonists. Mada received an Honorary Mention for Narrative Short at Slamdance, the Deep Focus Film Festival, and the Madrid Film Awards. In 2022, Mada was included in the Jamaican Biennial, screened at The National Gallery of Jamaica and the American Embassy in Jamaica. Additionally, Mada was available for a year on a donation basis, with all proceeds going to the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, an organization dedicated to aiding young mothers. He released Like A Baptism the following year, a two-minute film centered around a woman’s prayer in rural Jamaica, exclusively via Nowness. In 2023, he directed Burnt Milk (2023), a short film centered around his mother’s writing, which premiered at the Venice Biennale in the British Pavilion. He is the first filmmaker to be included in the pavilion. He is currently working on his first feature.
Ruby Elmhirst, producer of Burnt Milk, is a British-Jamaican Creative Producer specializing in the design and production of fashion and narrative-led projects rooted in social responsibility and sustainability. Her work ranges from short films to campaign shoots, store concepts, experience, and set design. Ruby is committed to working on projects that are active in creating opportunities for emerging talent. She has worked on projects featured in Nowness, Vogue, Forbes, Wallpaper*, and Refinery29.
This unique public screening is part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).
This program is associated with Joseph Zeal-Henry’s residency at ArtLab (Loeb/ArtLab Fellow 2024).
Images courtesy of Dancing Before the Moon (2023), Zimmers of Southall 2 (2023) and Burnt Milk (2023)
