Claudette's Star, 2019

Ayo Akingbade (b. 1994)

RA Collection: Art

Claudette's Star is named after the artist Claudette Johnson (b. 1959), known for her involvement with the BLK Art Group in the 1980s and, in particular, for her large-scale drawings and paintings of Black women. In the film, Ayo Akingbade talks to a friend about Johnson's paintingTrilogy (Arts Council Collection, 1982-6), one of her favourite art works.

Akingbade's film explores her own and her fellow RA Schools students' encounters with art and literature. The artist describes her 6-minute film as a series of interpretations reflecting on the question of who is given a voice. Much of the film is set amongst art works from the RA Collection filmed on site at Burlington House, in the galleries and in the RA Library, while the artists talk about their literary inspirations and responses to different art works. Christina Demetriou of Oyster Films, describes this film as situating the group 'as active agents of cultural institutions with a history of exclusion...The film is a multifaceted and poetic consideration of the act of looking: away from the white gaze and the white imaginary, and looking forward with an unfazed energy. Confidently, the camera sometimes glimpses and sometimes lingers, pausing for thought and for space'.

Akingbade states that she aimed to make a film that would inspire others to make films and to become artists. She describes it as being about looking at the past at the same time as looking forward and states that she wanted it to be optimistic in tone.

Ayo Akingbade is an artist, writer and film director based in London. Her 2016 film Tower XYZ received a Special Mention Award at International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and won the inaugural Sonja Savić Award at Alternative Film/Video Festival (Belgrade). She is is a graduate of London College of Communication and the Royal Academy Schools (2018-2021).

Further information:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnas6tdl1_Q - a short interview with the artist

https://bfmaf.org/program/claudettes-star/