HERStory Month
Thursday, March 8, 2018, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Bellatrix II: A Herstory Month Art Exhibition
Exploring Influence, Empowerment & Desire
In honor of Women’s History Month, Bellatrix (means warrior woman, and is a bright blue star in the Orion constellation) highlights the diverse roles that Black women play in society, exploring Black femininity through the spheres of influence, empowerment and desire. This exhibition features works by visual artist Jacqueline Bishop, Aleathia Brown, Tasha Douge', Lehna Huie, Koren Martin, Mathalicia Matarrita and Tavasha L. McDade. The month-long exhibition also includes theater performed by Antoina Badao, erotic literature by Tracy Kadangure, a panel on Aleathia Brown's Unveiled/Unlocked Movement, music listening parties, and a screening of the groundbreaking film, The Rape of Recy Taylor.
Inspired by the struggles of Black women ranging from activist Sojourner Truth to rapper Cardi B, the Bellatrix exhibit celebrates the Black Woman and her battle to defend her family, femininity, life, identity and desires. Through art, image, sound, film and word. This interactive group exhibition, acknowledges the war and celebrates the beauty of the warrior.
Tuesday, March 13. 2018
THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR
Directed by Nancy Buirski, 91 min., USA
Screening w/ Director Q&A - 7pm
Recy Taylor, a 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, was gang raped by six white boys in 1944 Alabama. Common in Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Not Recy Taylor, who bravely identified her rapists. The NAACP sent its chief rape investigator Rosa Parks, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. Our film exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals Rosa Parks’ intimate role in Recy Taylor’s story. An attempted rape against Parks was but one inspiration for her ongoing work to find justice for countless women like Taylor. The 1955 bus boycott was an end result, not a beginning. More and more women are now speaking up after rape. Our film tells the story of black women who spoke up when danger was greatest; it was their noble efforts to take back their bodies that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and movements that followed. The 2017 Global March by Women is linked to their courage. From sexual aggression on ‘40s southern streets to today’s college campuses and to the threatened right to choose, it is control of women’s bodies that powered the movement in Recy Taylor’s day and fuels our outrage today.
**New York Film Festival Official Selection**
Thursday, March 15, 2018, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Bellatrix Panel: Barehead Beauties Presents "The UNTITLED Journey"
A view through the life, art and social justice of a woman whose journey and challenges have beautiful tales woven and laid.
This docu-story poetically shares Aleathia Brown the artist the visionary written by filmmaker and friend Catherine S.
Aleathia Brown creates and produces artist development initiative workshops and lectures for student artists as well as career artist. Unveiled Unlocked is a global initiative founded by Ms. Brown.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018, 7pm - 9pm
Co-Presented by African Voices Magazine
& the City College Dept of Black Studies
BOOK TALK & DRAMATIC READING
The Tanaka Chronicles
by Tracy Kadungure
Never been kissed and brought up with the mantra of “wait until you get married to have sex”, Tanaka is attached to her virginity and plans to give it up on her wedding day. That is until she meets Fungi, the sweetest temptation, a tall handsome chocolate skinned brother with a hard muscular body and full kissable lips. A series of encounters with him lead to awaking the magic that lies within the body of the goddess and the ecstasy which is in every woman.
Follow Tanaka as she leaves her homeland for the UK and meets Ricky who presents her with an extraordinary proposition. She is yearning to be reawakened, nurtured and is willing to explore the sensual mysteries of her inner universe. Threesomes, voyeurism, exhibitionism and naughty games. The insatiable genie is out of the bottle, putting it back is out of the question.
THE BOOK WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE.