Discussion and mini exhibition
Movements and Moments - Feminist Generations
A dialogue of eco-feminism stories from India, Mexico, and the Phillippines
“We have come a long way, but we still have many battles to win.”
-Godavari Dange
Several “Movements and Moments – Feminist Generations” authors from Mexico, India, and the Philippines will take part in Frequencies Festival, Berlin, discussing the portrayed persons and communities through their artistic works:
- Alejandra Retana Betancourt and Maria Jose Retana (Mexico) will highlight their community’s fight against eviction of their Nahua heritage through an animation;
- Reetika Revathy Subramanian and Maitri Dore (India) will present the journey of Godavari Dange and her community through a selection of excerpts: a mix of animations and footage;
- Faye Cura (of Gantala Press) and Nina Martinez (the Philippines) will present a short film on the role of Kalinga women in the struggle against the threats to their ancestral land.
There will also be a mini exhibition of selected “Movements and Moments – Feminist Generations” stories in addition to the discussion by the authors.
“Movements and Moments – Feminist Generations” is a project initiated by Goethe-Institut Jakarta that aims to make visible the hidden biographies and activism by relating their stories in the highly accessible format of comics. By emphasizing an indigenous feminist perspective from the Global South, we wish to shed light on one of the most marginalized, underexposed aspects of feminist protest.
Biography
ALEJANDRA RETANA BETANCOURTis a Mexican writer who lives in Milpa Alta, Mexico City. From 2017 to 2018 she was a grant holder of Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA), financial support given to artists by the Mexican government.
She was part of Fundación Antonio Gala’s artist residency program in Cordoba, Spain from October 2019 to May 2020. She focuses on creating narratives in order to understand how people have resisted recent violence in her country.
MARÍA JOSÉ RETANA BETANCOURT (PEPE RETANA)
is a Mexican visual artist who has lived in Milpa Alta, Mexico City, since 2016. Her work is focused on illustration and comics. She is a student of Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado “La Esmeralda”.
Recently she has been collaborating with Secretaría de Cultura de la Ciudad de México to develop audiovisual content about Milpa Alta’s oral tradition, customs and traditional knowledge.
REETIKA REVATHY SUBRAMANIAN
is a journalist and researcher from Mumbai, India. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Gender Studies as a Gates Cambridge Scholar at University of Cambridge, UK. Through her work that is anchored in intersectional feminist politics, she aims to reconcile collaborative storytelling with pressing marginalized realities.
MAITRI DORE
is an architect and freelance illustrator from Mumbai, India. Through her illustrations, she attempts to highlight the struggles of oppressed communities in India, focusing on gender, caste and religion. She is currently pursuing a PhD in cultural heritage conservation at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
GANTALA PRESS
Founded in 2015, GANTALA PRESS is an independent, non-profit, volunteer-run Filipina feminist press and literary collective focused on women’s stories and issues. Our projects consist primarily of publications, discussions, and workshops. Our work encompasses cookbooks for/from militarized communities, poetry collections, and personal narratives written by women from the basic sectors. We believe in the potential of feminist publishing and in solidarity work with women artists and collectives as vital political action.
NINA MARTINEZ
is an illustrator from Manila. She graduated in 2016 from the University of the Philippines with a BFA in Visual Communication. When she’s not illustrating for a diverse range of media including books, news, and video, she writes and draws original comics about ghosts, God, and growing up.