In celebration of Attention, Absorption, this event brings together Black women and non-binary artists and animators in the UK today. Join us for a panel discussion between Jessica Ashman, Phoebe Boswell, Mothy Muyobo and Maybelle Peters. The talk will be chaired by exhibition curator, Jade Foster and will particularly focus on the crossovers between animation and the visual arts sector.

Peters’ work has been shown predominantly within animation and film contexts until the exhibition The Place Is Here at Nottingham Contemporary and South London Gallery in 2017. With the limited systemic knowledge of Black female and non-binary animators within Britain, Attention, Absorption is a recognition of Peters’ work and a shift in her practice—from animation to installation—contextualising and providing new insights into her work.

This event will take place both in person at Primary and online, a link will be provided for online participants following booking confirmation—please book here. The session will be live streamed and recorded.

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Contact rebecca@weareprimary.org with any questions and access needs.

Jessica Ashman is an award winning artist who works in animation moving image, music performance (under the name Spirit Sigh) and arts education. She is a Royal College of Art graduate whose work has been supported by Animate Projects, Jerwood Visual Arts, Arts Council England, Supernormal Festival, Flatpack Festival, Focal Point Gallery and New Art Exchange.

Jessica creates experimental film narratives and soundscapes that explore the connections between identity, race and gender, inspired by Black speculative fiction and Black radical feminist theory.

Phoebe Boswell is an interdisciplinary artist based in London. Her work, which has been exhibited extensively both in the UK and abroad, expands drawing with digital technologies to explore modalities of freedom, care, contested histories and imagined futures through a black feminist and multifaceted diasporic lens.

Mothy Muyobo: I am a Black, non-binary, multi-dispinary artist from Milton Keynes, based in London. I feel the need to fully express what I could not before, being a queer, from a small town with a mostly white population. Animation allows me to create moving imagery to not only reflect my contemporary outlook on life, but also reflects my previous lives. My art is bold for I could not be before. My art is awkward as that is how I am. And whilst I find myself, my art style will continuously and purposely reflect those changes.

Maybelle Peters is a London based artist and filmmaker working in film and CGI. Her practice focuses on storytelling using documentary, historical events, literature and oral narratives. She gained her bachelors degree in Animation at Farnham where she made her first commissioned film for BBC2. Her Channel 4 commissioned film, Mama Lou, has been shown extensively at animation festivals including Annecy, Ottawa and the Edinburgh Film Festival as well as broadcast television. She is the recipient of the inaugural Womxn of Colour art award. Maybelle is a practice-based PhD student at UCA Farnham researching black bodies as data using motion capture technology.