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Thighs: Willy Ndatira & Xavier Scott Marshall

by Willy Ndatira & Xavier Scott Marshall on 22 July 2022

The art director and image-maker collaborated on a series of photographs of black trans women, analysed by Ndatira, to implore viewers to rethink their relationships to white supremacist capitalistic patriarchal artworks, traditions and institutions.

The art director and image-maker collaborated on a series of photographs of black trans women, analysed by Ndatira, to implore viewers to rethink their relationships to white supremacist capitalistic patriarchal artworks, traditions and institutions.

  • What is your name and how would you describe what you do?

Willy Ndatira: Art director and editor.

Xavier Scott Marshall: I would say I persuade the viewers of my photographs and films to think outside of themselves and see from another perspective.

  • What’s your background?

WN: Image-making, writing, design and consultancy.

XSM: Trinidadian-American.

  • What inspires you?

WN: I am avid reader and love photography, although I cannot take pictures!

XSM: The theatrics of every day black life.

  • What is the ambition behind your practice?

WN: To be inspired and to inspire a positive change. To observe and to critic constructively. To open doors and make space for marginalised people and minorities in the creative fields.

XSM: My ambition is to undo the violence of visual imperialism imposed on the world through media dating as far back as the renaissance.

  • What did you hope to convey with your Bodies Of Knowledge film?

WN: I wanted the work to centre black trans women. And to remind the viewer that black trans women are the source of a new world if only we could let go of hate and racial prejudice and operate from a place of love and care.

XSM: William and I wanted to turn the idea of 'origin' and fertility on its head and implore our viewers to rethink their relationships to white supremacist capitalistic patriarchal artworks, traditions and institutions.

Film Concept and Direction:
Talent:
Fatima Jamal
Photographic Assistance:
Mathias Rushin

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