The Black Subject: Ancient to Modern symposium audio recordings

Borderline (1930) is a groundbreaking silent film with an explicit theme of racial prejudice and an implicit homoerotic subtext. Directed by Kenneth Macpherson, editor of the influential intellectual film journal Close Up (1927–33) it is highly influenced by the psychological realism of GW Pabst and Sergei Eisenstein’s montage.  Borderline tells the story of a tense, inter-racial love triangle and its deadly consequences. Macpherson embellishes this story by portraying the extreme psychological states of the characters. The result is a unique and complex matrix of racial and sexual tension moving between the boundaries of black and white, male and female and the conscious and the unconscious. This version of the film includes a score by jazz musician Courtney Pine. 

This is a post screening discussion with Prof. Laura Marcus (Oxford University) and writer and critic Prof. Sukhdev Sandhu (NYU), chaired by Tate Curator Sonya Dyer.

Download The Black Subject: Film screening of Borderline - Q&A (MP3, 175.5 KB)

‘From Absence to Presence,’ session takes in depictions of Ancient Mythology right through to the Georgian era featuring speakers including artist Kimathi Donkor, Michael Ohajuru, Dr Temi Odumosu, researcher and writer SI Martin, and Prof Michael Fisher.

Download The Black Subject: On presence and absence (MP3, 33.2 MB)

‘Victorians – a Conversation’ considers alternative visual readings of the era including presentations on photography and painting from Dr Caroline Bressey (The Equiano Centre at University College London), Dr Florian Stadtler (University of Exeter) and Jan Marsh (National Portrait Gallery).

Download The Black Subject: Victorians - a conversation (MP3, 559.2 KB)

In ‘Model Citizens’ we delve into the lives of artists models in the interwar years with presentations on Patrick Nelson and Sunita by Dr Gemma Romain (The Equiano Centre at University College London) and Dr Roshan McClenahan. Both feature in the ‘Spaces of Black Modernism’ display.

Download The Black Subject: Model citizens - a panel (MP3, 5.5 MB)

The final session, with Prof Partha Mitter, considers the role of Indian artists and art students in the dawn of Modernism, followed by a plenary chaired by Dr David Dibosa (UAL).

Download The Black Subject: Modernism (MP3, 48.3 MB)