Debbie Ballin Senior Lecturer Filmmaking and Dr Rachel Genn Manchester Writing School would like to invite you to the opening of their new exhibition, an exciting new collaboration between SODA and Manchester Writing School.
“In 1980s Sheffield, we dressed in jockey silks, danced like we meant it and fought because we had to…” - Genn 2021
BATTLEDRESS is a two screen immersive film that uses oral history and archive to create alternative histories of working-class women’s experiences of fighting, fashion and allegiance. This research builds on Genn’s personal story Streetfighting Girls for The New Statesman (2021) about the social and economic pressures on girls approaching womanhood in 1980s Sheffield. Exploring challenging themes of women’s violence, its relationship to power (and perceived invincibility) and especially how fashion fits with these themes. The project seeks to illuminate how immersive techniques can reimagine working class women’s stories, creating ‘encountered’ narratives that disturb the way existing working-class histories are framed.
BATTLEDRESS opens at at Festival of the Mind, Sheffield from 15th -25th September 2022 at Events Central, Fargate, Sheffield.