COMMUNITY | MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16 | 6 PM | FREE
Indivisible ABQ Meeting, Film Screening of
OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage
Indivisible Albuquerque is thrilled to host a special screening of OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage, an impactful short documentary film that highlights the power of art to drive social change. On Monday, November 16, at 6 PM, they will host a screening of the 30-minute film FUSION | The Cell, followed by a conversation including the film’s featured participant, Whitney Bradshaw, and the film’s director, Clare Major.
OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage follows artist Whitney Bradshaw as she photographs women mid-scream in cathartic group sessions where long-silenced stories conjure rage, sorrow, and joy. An activist and sexual abuse survivor, Whitney uses art to fuel action for women’s rights, culminating in a grassroots fight for abortion access in Ohio. The film offers a visceral rallying cry for the revolutionary power of women and nonbinary people’s voices.
Join us to watch and discuss this powerful film!
Free parking is available in FUSION’s main lot, in our lot next to Burger King on Lomas, and is also free along 1st Street after 6 PM (more parking info + map available here).
Please RSVP for free to join this event. Watch the Q & A live (Click)!
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OUTCRY: ALCHEMISTS OF RAGE SYNOPSIS
Physically and emotionally intimate slow-motion footage brings us into the world that Whitney’s art creates. We follow a group of women as Whitney explains the why and how of a scream session, feel the nervous energy of a first group scream, then hear participants’ stories and witness their screams—often long-repressed, angry, sorrowful, occasionally joyful, some screaming for the first time—as each takes their turn crying out in front of Whitney’s camera.
After the screams fade, we move into Whitney’s art studio and home to learn more about her artistic process and motivations. A news report from Ohio places us in the lead-up to the 2023 vote on a citizen-led ballot initiative to enshrine reproductive rights in the Ohio state constitution. Whitney heads out on the road to hold OUTCRY sessions and march for women’s rights across the country. We see more screams—defiant, hopeful, even playful—and hear more fragments of women’s stories, every one evoking a universal experience.
Whitney shares her own family story of sexual abuse which, while deeply traumatic, is part of what fuels her art and activism: if we don’t talk about these things, nothing changes. We then join grassroots activists in Dayton, Ohio, who are in the last few days of an exhausting campaign for reproductive rights.
ABOUT CLARE MAJOR (DIRECTOR)
Clare Major (she/her) is the director of OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage and a cinematographer who specializes in handheld observational camerawork and in stories that illuminate the intersection of cultures and the lives of women and girls. Recent cinematography credits include Oscar-shortlisted short doc HOLDING MOSES and Peabody nominee and Emmy winner BELLY OF THE BEAST. In 2020 Clare was named one of DOC NYC's "40 Under 40" filmmakers to watch.
STATEMENT: I began this project after I was hired to film Whitney Bradshaw leading an OUTCRY scream session in the fall of 2022. OUTCRY, Whitney’s participatory art project, centers on group scream sessions in which Whitney photographs women and non-binary and gender-nonconforming people mid-scream. Those photographs are then presented en masse as a collective act of resistance. During the two hours of that scream session I knew I was witnessing something special. What I saw—a group of students in a small, dark room, crying and laughing as they took turns screaming into Whitney’s lens—left me profoundly moved and creatively inspired.
I connected with OUTCRY on a visceral level. With our present-day political climate, ongoing assaults on women's bodily autonomy, and a lifetime of being told in a thousand ways both explicit and implicit to quiet down—my long-simmering rage feels ready to boil over. Whitney creates a space to quite literally give voice to these emotions that we're told to shove down deep inside and never speak out loud.
While that first day’s footage was destined for a UC Berkeley press release, I could picture exactly how my own film would look: the camera floating up close as those powerful screams erupted in slow motion. Whitney and I had worked well together that day, navigating our two cameras and safeguarding the experience of the participants, so when I approached her about working together on a short documentary film, she enthusiastically agreed.
Our collaboration has produced a film that both stays true to my artistic vision and also fully represents the depths and complexities with which Whitney has imbued OUTCRY. It explores the transformational power of women’s rage at a time when reproductive rights and bodily autonomy for women and LGBTQ+ people are under attack. As we navigate yet another critical election year, OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage aims to motivate viewers to use their voices to vote for women's rights in 2024—and will live on as a portrait of feminist power in action.
ABOUT WHITNEY BRADSHAW (ARTIST)
Whitney Bradshaw (she/her) is an artist, activist, educator, curator, former social worker and the subject and producer of OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage (2024). Her work has been shown widely across the United States including solo shows at Atlanta Contemporary, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the DePaul Art Museum, Wave Pool Contemporary Art Fulfillment Center, and the 21c Museum Hotel Louisville. The Museum of Contemporary Photography, the DePaul Art Museum, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, Hall Art and Technology Foundation, and Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell collect her work, which has been published in Ms. Magazine, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Vogue. In 2023, Bradshaw was named one of NewCity Magazine’s 50 Chicago Artists’ Artists. She is currently the curator at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, Indiana.
STATEMENT: My experience as a sociologist, a feminist activist, a queer woman, an educator, a former social worker, and a mother of a bi-racial daughter inspire me to make work centering on intersectional communities that have been disempowered. I choose photography as my medium because it is a tool with which I can create alternative and empowering representations. Through OUTCRY, I create space for women to share personal stories, be heard, witnessed, believed, supported, and celebrated while making visible issues that have been silenced by the white supremacist patriarchy. To date, I have worked with over 500 women across the country, facilitating therapeutic, empowering, and transformative scream sessions. Together their resulting portraits become a monumental act of collective resistance. Since 2018, OUTCRY has been exhibited widely impacting communities and inspiring activism along the way. I plan to continue to do this work with a focus on the states that have banned and criminalized abortion. My hope is to work with and empower more women and communities to share their stories, fight for women's rights and bodily autonomy while encouraging everyone to VOTE feminist in 2024.
ABOUT INDIVISIBLE ALBUQUERQUE
Established in 2017, Indivisible Albuquerque is one of the leading Indivisible groups nationwide, with over 850 members, 5,000 social media followers, and a strong presence in local government.
Mission Statement
We seek to educate the public on facts, provide information relating to the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of federal, state, and local government by building a diverse and inclusive community to promote social and economic justice and improve the lives of fellow New Mexicans.
History
Indivisible Albuquerque, formerly known as Indivisible Nob Hill, was founded on January 12, 2017, by Barbara C. Lemaire, PhD. The first meeting was held at Canvas Artistry in February with 124 people in attendance, quickly enacting bylaws in October 2017, and becoming a 501(c)4 organization with a Board of Directors established. The organization collaborates with sister Indivisible organizations to meet regularly with New Mexico’s Members of Congress (MoC) and the Governor’s office, and builds strong relationships with each MoC, the Mayor’s office, and the Albuquerque City Council.
Indivisible Albuquerque meets weekly and hosts direct action events, raises funds for issues that define us, such as;
voting rights for all
common sense gun safety
healthcare for all
environmental care
immigrant rights