As part of our current exhibition ‘Simon Says/Dadda’, a special screening of all the works produced as part of the project followed by a discussion between Beverley Bennett and Rehana Zaman
‘Simon Says/Dadda’ is a collaborative project exploring father/daughter relationships among Black and Asian women and non-binary individuals, highlighting the deep impact that structural inequalities have within wider society. Comprising three core parts, ‘Simon Says/Dadda’ brings together numerous elements; gatherings, testimonies, collaboration and community, of Beverley’s practice within the same body of work. Working over a longer period of time to allow for deeper connections and evolutions to manifest, the work has drawn together mediums that previously have been kept separate, to generate a whole. With a title referencing patrilineal relationships, ‘Simon’ is the artist’s father, and ‘Dadda’, the Grandfather on her Mother’s side; ‘Dadda’ is also used as a term in Patois (the Caribbean/Jamaican dialect) to reference ‘Father’.
Beverley Bennett is an artist-filmmaker whose work revolves around the possibilities of drawing, performance and collaboration. Her practice provides spaces for participants to become collaborators and provides a point of focus from where to unpick ideas around what constitutes an art practice and for whom art is generated. Bennett’s work has been shown nationally and internationally; venues include the British Film Institute (BFI), London (2023); Birmingham 2022 Festival (2022); CinemaAfrica Film Festival, Stockholm (2018); Encounters Short Film Festival, Bristol (2017); Wysing Art Centre, Cambridgeshire (2017); Spike Island, Bristol (2017); New Art Exchange, Nottingham (2016); National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston (2016); Bluecoat, Liverpool (2010).
Rehana Zaman is an artist living and working in London. Her work speaks to notions of kinship and sociality, seeking out possibilities of intimacy and transgression within hostile contexts. Conversation and cooperative methods sit at the heart of her films which extend into texts, performances and group work. She has exhibited widely in the UK and Internationally. Recent presentations include Serpentine Projects (forthcoming), Tromsø Kunstforening, BEK – Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts, British Art Show 9 (Touring), ICA Miami, Trinity Square Video, Toronto, Borås International Sculpture Biennial (Sweden), Artist Film International Whitechapel (Intnl Touring). In 2019 she co-edited Tongues with Taylor Le Melle, published by PSS and was shortlisted for the Film London Jarman Award. She is a member of not/nowhere artist workers cooperative and her films are distributed by LUX.
