Monday April 16th, 6.30 p.m. until 8.00 p.m.

This is an evening of films with the voice of the artist. Alia was born in Swansea and she enjoys both Welsh and Indian heritages. She works in film and on exhibitions and also teaches in Further Education. She now has three decades of film-making behind her.

The programme will include:

Points of Departure, 2014, video, 17min

Eating Grass, 2003, 16mm, 24min

Fatima’s Letter, 1992, 16mm, 19min

Alia will be there to talk about the themes and pre-occupations in her work. These include gender, colonialism, the diaspora and borders.

“I am interested in language; we construct ourselves through language; it creates the space where we define ourselves. Film can be a mirror—it can throw things back at us in a way that makes us question the ideas we have about ourselves and through this each other…I [am] interested in what happens when you hold more than one ‘culture’ within you at any given time.” [From a Q&A at an evening in L.A.]

Alia works within the experimental film discourse. You can get a sense of her approach by looking at one of her films [Points of Departure] on BBC Arts Online.  Pavilion events are always worth attending; the Hyde Park Picture House has hosted a number; and this promises to be rewarding. It will be at The Swarthmore Centre on this Monday evening.  Swarthmore is quite accessible. From the Picture House walk up through the park, and down Cardigan Road to Woodhouse Square.