Mis-Shapes: Class and Moving Image Production

The erasure of class from contemporary cultural discourse has led to increasing difficulty in discussing artistic production and consumption's material and social conditions. This project will create an understanding of what it means to be a working-class artist working with moving images. By linking the historical experience of working-class artists to those working today, the project will develop a language for working-class artists to articulate their experiences around both material and immaterial challenges within the field of cultural production. Through archival research and conversations with filmmakers with working-class backgrounds, the research will explore the role of class within filmmaking, remaining intersectional with other theories of identity, such as race, gender, and sexuality. Further, this research examines the class barriers within art education, offering students and teachers a developed understanding of class issues.