Michelle Williams Gamaker: Strange Evidence

Williams Gamaker revisits the life of Merle Oberon to expose the racial politics of early cinema and examines how Oberon’s mixed heritage was erased under the pressures of Hollywood’s racial hierarchies.

Strange Evidence is a genre bending Body Horror/Film Noir, focusing on 1930s screen star and Academy Award nominee Merle Oberon, who kept her mixed Sri Lankan, Indian and British heritage secret to protect her industry status, passing as white until her death in 1979. Under the guardianship of Alexander Korda’s London Films, as a contracted star she became its resident so-called “exotic” playing stereotypical roles.

During this exhibition the gallery will become a hybrid installation/working film studio, with the set of this new film serving as the focal point of the exhibition.

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