Through a Lens Darkly – Cinema at the Museum (Black History Month) | Remai Modern
This February, Cinema at the Museum features a selection of notable documentaries highlighting the work of Black artists, thinkers and leaders. Each film is paired with a short film by a Canadian artist or filmmaker.
The first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, Through a Lens Darkly probes the recesses of American history by discovering images that have been suppressed, forgotten and lost.
Bringing to light the hidden and unknown photos shot by both professional and vernacular African American photographers, the film opens a window into lives, experiences and perspectives of Black families that is absent from the traditional historical canon. These images show a much more complex and nuanced view of American culture, society and its founding ideals.
Inspired by Deborah Willis’s book Reflections in Black and featuring the works of Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, Anthony Barboza, Hank Willis Thomas, Coco Fusco, Clarissa Sligh and many others, Through a Lens Darkly introduces the viewer to a diverse yet focused community of storytellers who transform singular experiences into a communal journey of discovery — and a call to action.
Through a Lens Darkly will be paired with Michèle Pearson Clarke’s Handmade Mountain
2019, CANADA, 6 minutes, PG
Michèle Pearson Clarke explores the emotional fallout of being both early to gay marriage and early to gay divorce. Fifteen years after same-sex marriage became legal, she and friends reflect on its personal and political meaning in this experimental film.