Talk
Rethinking Runs Girls in Girls Cot
9 Oct 2019
Regular hours
- Wed, 09 Oct
- 14:00 – 16:00
Address
- Nash House, The Mall
- London
- SW1Y 5AH
- United Kingdom
Travel Information
- Piccadilly Circus/Charing Cross
Researcher Precious Oyelade gives a reading of a new, critical essay on the 2006 Nollywood film Girls Cot and its protagonists, womxn characters known as ‘runs girls’.
About
Oyelade’s essay resists the reductive reading that runs girls film’s protagonists can only exercise power using their bodies. Through analysing the characters in relation to their environment (the city of Abuja), and examining their relationships with each other as well as with the traditional holders of power, men, Oyelade argues that the womxn become, arguably, the most powerful characters in the narrative.
The reading is followed by a conversation with Weruzo creative director Chinasa Chukwu, making connections between Oyelade’s research and the themes of Weruzo’s latest collection, Sisi. The conversation is followed by an audience Q&A.
Precious Oyelade is a writer, marketer, and Nollywood enthusiast. She received recognition across national and diaspora news outlets in 2015 for her starred first dissertation from the University of Cambridge, on the impact of Nollywood on the Nigerian UK diaspora. Precious has remained involved in the diaspora entertainment & media scene, reviewing films and interviewing prominent actors and producers in the Nollywood industry. In addition to now guest lecturing on Nollywood at SOAS, she has also consulted for diaspora entertainment channels in the UK. Precious is most passionate about the importance of African storytelling and the wider reading available within these films. She is currently working in PR specialising in African tech and emerging markets.
Chinasa Chukwu is the founder and creative director of Weruzo, a luxury womenswear brand transposing traditional handwoven materials into modern silhouettes. She has previously worked as Fashion Editor at XXY Magazine and is the Art Director for cultural anthology, POSTSCRIPT. She is particularly interested in questions of cultural heritage, human interactions, sustainability and transformative creative economies.