Ngozi Onwurah
| Ngozi Onwurah | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nigeria, West Africa. |
| Education | Film -St. Martin's School of Art, The National Film (UK), The Television School (UK) |
| Occupation | Director, Producer, Model, Lecturer |
| Spouse(s) | Alwin H. Küchler |
| Children | 1 daughter |
Ngozi Onwurah is a British-Nigerian film director, producer, model, and lecturer.
Ngozi Onwurah was born in 1966 in Nigeria to a Nigerian father, and a white British mother, Madge Onwurah. She has two siblings, Simon Onwurah and Labour MP Chi Onwurah. As children, Onwurah's mother was forced to flee with her children from Nigeria in order to escape a Civil War. They fled to England, where Ngozi and Simon spent the majority of their childhood. During their youth, they endured much racial discrimination, which influenced many of her films.
This film is a performative, autobiographical, experimental, and ethnographic piece that explores the inner feelings of growing up in a mixed race household. The film shows mixed race children experiencing racial harassment and isolation as a result of their skin tones. Two children, one boy and one girl, are featured in the film and shown powdering their faces with white cleaning solution and scrubbing their skin raw in order to rid themselves of the self-hatred they feel as a result of their dark skin tones. The film shows such stereotypes as the "Tragic Mulatto", but challenges this by featuring Ngozi and her brother Simon Onwurah being exceptions to the stereotype.Coffee Colored Children addresses the idea of a "melting pot" society and challenges it by suggesting that it should be called the "incinerator".
This film was inspired by a poem by director, Dr. Maya Angelou. The film examines enthnographic images of Black Women featured in documentary works. Onwurah interviews many different women with different stories, occupations, and struggles in the film. One woman, Caron Wheeler is a singer and songwriter. She discusses her traumatic past experiences; including rape, experienced by both herself and her ancestors.And Still I Rise explores the historical roots of African ancestry during slavery. In one scene, she shows the image of a Black woman, naked and bound, accompanied by the sound of a whip. She uses controversial images and stories to display the lack of control Black women had over their bodies at this time and how that is still present in Black culture today all across the world, and especially in Third World African countries. She shows how women were treated in the past, during slavery, and in the present, with the intention of changing the future.
This film is an autobiographical piece featuring both Ngozi herself, and Ngozi's mother, Madge Onwurah. Both women narrate certain portions of the film and appear in the film as themselves. The Body Beautiful discusses both women, and their lives and fears. Madge Onwurah speaks of marrying a Nigerian man, baring mixed race children, and having breast cancer followed by a mastectomy. The film also explore Ngozi's feelings of being raised by a white British mother, being a model in a predominantly white industry, and the deep inner workings of her relationship with her mother and her mother's sexuality. Ngozi admits that for a while she never saw her mother as a sexual being. In the film, she re-sexualizes her mother by envisioning her making love to a young Black man. In another scene, Ngozi and her mother lay naked together, and the scar of Madge's mastectomy scar is exposed. This image is controversial because of the ideals of what is considered beautiful in Western Society. This scene is a symbol of embracing the body in its truest form, and truest identity.
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