Peggy Ahwesh

Peggy Ahwesh
Born	1954
Education	Antioch College
Known for	Video Art, Film

Peggy Ahwesh (born 1954 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania) is an American experimental filmmaker and video artist. She received her B.F.A. at Antioch College. A true bricoleur, her tools include narrative and documentary styles, improvised performance and scripted dialogue, sync-sound film, found footage, digital animation, and crude Pixelvision video. Her work is primarily an investigation cultural identity and the role of the subject in various genres. Her interests include: women, sexuality and feminism; genre; reenactment; artists' books. Her works have been seen around with world in San Francisco, New York, Barcelona, London, Toronto, Rotterdam, and Creteil, France. Starting in 1990, she has taught at Bard College as a Professor of Film and Electronic Arts. Her teaching interests include: experimental media, history of the non-fiction film, and women in film.

Peggy Ahwesh went to Antioch College, where she became enamored with the works of radical artists and filmmakers like Paul Sharits, Carolee Schneeman and Joyce Wieland. After college, she returned to her hometown of Cannonsburg, where she began her film career working on Super 8 film. She thought Cannonsburg was a small industrial town that offered a freeing artistic feel. During the 1970s, she became involved with the local punk rock scene, and would create short films with her friends documenting the punk bands.

Following this, she began working at The Mattress Factory—a large art warehouse in Pittsburgh—where she began her own film series. One of her first guests was filmmaker George A. Romero. She began to show his work locally and befriended Romero's crew. By 1982, she began to work her way into the industry as a production assistant on feature films on Romero's films. There, she met good friends Natalka Voslakov and Maggie Strosser. Ahwesh claims Romero to be a huge influence on her as he was knowledgeable on race, gender, and independent films. Soon, Ahwesh joined the Pittsburg Filmmakers as a programmer. She also wrote grants and collaborated with local clubs and the University of Pittsburgh. In 1980, Ahwesh did a big group show of local filmmakers. She liked the idea of group shows because they got everybody involved.

...
Wikipedia