"Return to Sender: Women of Color in Colonial Postcards and the Politics of Representation," a new film by Mara Ahmed, will be shown at the Southampton Arts Center on Sunday at 2 p.m. It will be followed by a panel discussion exploring the themes of the film: the colonial "male gaze," women of color as figures of a phantasm, and ways to resist such objectification.
The film opens with three contemporary South Asian-American women who recreate British colonial postcards from the early 20th century. While their lavish traditional attire and jewelry emulate the awkward poses of the postcard women, they subvert the male gaze by choosing actions of their own.
The panelists are Jeremy Dennis, a Shinnecock fine art photographer; Minerva Perez, executive director of Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island; Brenda Simmons, executive director of the Southampton African American Museum, and Ms. Ahmed.
The program is free.
