Experiencing Interruptions?

The Art of Oppression

Three female artists are given three weeks to each create a work of art during lockdown.
The women are culturally diverse and use their art to speak of marginalisation and injustice.
Voice is important in this film. The director gives volume and primacy to the women’s lived experiences and to what they reveal in the process of creating their art.
'The Art of Oppression' brings together in the one filmic space a British-Pakistani poet, a British-Caribbean visual artist and a sculptor who was a child during the Yugoslavian civil war and speaks of loss and of homeland. Their words are powerful, their stories emotional; whilst culturally different their experiences of injustice are just as injurious.
The film’s narrative is paced, subtly balancing the agency of women's voices with the gradual unveiling of the women themselves and then revealing their art.
The directors' desire to not speak for the women, but to 'speak nearby’ them - Trinh T. Minh-Ha filmmaker and academic has influence here.
As a Black British filmmaker the director plays with documentary convention in order to ensure she is also positioned within the film context without distracting from the women or their stories. This is her response to unmuting the Black female voice, and to an industry where Black women directors are still under-represented.

  • Francis
    Director
    'Many Rivers to Cross', 'Making Waves'
  • Patricia Francis
    Producer
    'Are You Ready For This' - CBBC, BBC Inside Out, BBC Politics East Midlands, BBC1 Daytime, BBC news
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    41 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 8, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Francis

Patricia Francis is a filmmaker. She produces, directs and edits her own films.

Patricia’s media career began in BBC radio after competitively winning a place whilst studying at university. After securing a range of broadcast journalist opportunities Patricia moved into television production, working in regional news and current affairs and then in national television where she worked across BBC1 and BBC2 programmes.

In 2012 Patricia set up Syncopate Media an independent production company. She was commissioned to make programmes for BBC Inside Out, BBC Politics East Midlands and CBBC. Patricia was awarded funding for her first two films. ‘Many Rivers to Cross’, which spoke of the experiences of those from the Windrush generation who travelled from the Caribbean and settled in Britain. ‘Making Waves’, her second film, gives unique insight into the social and economic experiences of Black-Britons born to the Windrush generation and who had to navigate the social and political injustices during1970s and ‘80s Britain.

Patricia is also a post-graduate researcher. Her unease with social, racial and gender inequality informs her postgraduate research which aims to articulate the silencing of women’s voices through a practice-based prism. Her research focuses on women engaged in dissenting activities. She incorporates academic texts into a contemporary reflection of our socio-political present, and deconstructs racist and sexist ideological narratives, attempting to conceive, instead, an alternative ‘language’ that constructs a social philosophy embracing difference and appreciating all.

Add Director Biography