Flotilla and Oral History: Spotlighting East London Women

Melanie Manchot’s new work, Flotilla, intertwines two histories relevant to the Royal Docks to create an inspiring film on how we create sustainable futures and equitable societies with a focus on gender equalities.

Flotilla was created for and exhibited at Sea Change at the Royal Docks in south Newham. During the filming, two Public History students recorded oral histories of the women involved in the film.

This event is a chance to explore the themes of the film, hear from Melanie Manchot on her inspiration and creation process, and celebrate the stories of the women featured.

Programme:

6-7pm in the UCL East cinema

Film screening and discussion with Melanie Manchot, the historians and the women involved. Including clips from the oral histories.

7-8pm in the UCL East atrium

Drinks reception and chance to listen to the oral histories in full at listening stations.

About the work:

Flotilla takes inspiration from both the historic women’s protests around the Royal Docks, from the Match Girls to the Suffragettes, the Sugar Girls and the Dagenham Ford strikes, and the inequalities with regards to women working on boats. Historically, women were not allowed to work on moving vessels, in fact they were barred from remaining on ships once they had set sail. Old-fashioned sailor superstitions thought that women on merchant and military vessels were bad luck and could spell disaster at sea. As a result all seafaring professions were barred to women, until as recently as the late 20th Century.

A cross-generational group of local women is filmed on a ‘flotilla’ of differently sized boats and ships on the night-time waters of the Royal Docks. Standing at the bow, the protagonists become radiantly illuminated by pools of light while the flotilla itself is seen like a procession, gliding through the waters towards the City of London, lit up in the distance.

The work pays particular attention to the possibilities of improved urban futures, where the dilemmas of capitalist imperatives are tempered by care, solidarity and sustainability.

Melanie Manchot is an East London-based visual artist who works with photography, film, video and installation as part of an event and performance-to-camera based practice that involves participatory strategies. Her projects often explore specific sites and public spaces to locate notions of individual and collective identities. Manchot has just completed her first feature film, STEPHEN, commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, where it will be shown as an installation from June 2023 and shown in its entirety at Sheffield Docs Fest in June. Selected recent solo exhibitions: ‘Dancing is the best revenge’ at Märkisches Museum Witten, Germany and ‘Alpine Diskomiks’, Parafin, London. Manchot’s work is held in major international collections.