In celebration of Black History Month, Hauser & Wirth is pleased to present ‘Personal Problems’ – a film series organized by LA-based artist Charles Gaines. The films selected will offer a varied perspective on the African Diaspora, considering African American history and culture as part of the worldwide colonial and postcolonial narrative.

According to Gaines, ‘Human drama and sensibility are always culturally driven, and the art of the postcolonial Diaspora shows the role of culture and politics in intensifying human drama, giving art a more expanded role in our general understanding.’

Over the course of two days, Gaines’ series will feature seven films, both short subject and feature-length, that center on political narratives, and as the artist describes, are ‘from the point of view of the family.’ This is depicted in the resistance to French colonial oppression in Rachid Bouchareb’s ‘Outside the Law’ (2010), displayed through the difficulties of black family life as melodrama in Bill Gunn & Ishmael Reed’s ‘Personal Problems’ (1980), and highlighted by the trauma of family separation caused by an oppressive immigration policy in Ousamane Sembène’s ‘Black Girl’ (1966).

The short films and videos in the series such as Edgar Arceneaux’s ‘Until, Until, Until…’ (2015 – 2016), Cauleen Smith’s ‘H-E-L-L-O’ (2015), and both of Ja’Tovia Gary’s short films, ‘An Ecstatic Experience’ (2015) and ‘Cakes da Killer: No Homo’ (2013) are reflections on how the colonial context links identity to performance.

This film series is free and guests are welcome to attend all screenings. Reservations are recommended due to limited space. Please indicate which film(s) you wish to see when you reserve your spot. Click here to register. 

Friday 22 February
7.30 pm

BLACK GIRL
Directed by Ousamane Sembène
1966
59 min.

UNTIL, UNTIL, UNTIL
Directed by Edgar Arceneaux
2015 – 2016
48 min

Followed by brief Q&A with Charles Gaines & Edgar Arceneaux