Series: New Television
Program: New Television
Episode: 306 (1993)
Date: 1990-01-01
Subject: Body Image; Breast - Cancer
People: Altinson, Louis; Bovell, Brian; Carr, Nadja; Dobson, Linda; Douglass, Maureen; Gray, Richard; McKay, Haley; McKay, Michael; McKay, Nina; Martin, Sian; Nonyela, Valentine; Novlet; Onwurah, Madge; Onwurah, Ngozi A.; Parks, Ann; Rowell, Rosie; Saffron; Yeomans, Jane
Copyright Holder: B.F.I. Productions

Clip Description
This autobiographical story, written and directed by Ngozi Onwurah, shows a daughter coming to terms with her own body and the difficulties endured by her mother, a breast cancer survivor who has undergone a mastectomy. Although most of the work is dramatized, Onwurah''s mother, Madge, plays herself in a candid and inspiring performance. The stories of both the mother and the daughter provide narration for the film. At the age of 16, the daughter becomes a model. Comfortable with her body, she drags her mother along to a public sauna. When the mother falls asleep and her towel slips to reveal the scars of her surgery, the daughter becomes aware of the uncomfortable stares of the other women in the sauna. There is a sequence which shows Madge Onwurah engaging in intimate behavior with a younger man. The work ends with mother and daughter sleeping side by side in the nude. Original music score written and performed by Anthony Quigley and Jonathan Hirst.

Program Description
This episode of "New Television" features "Strange Space" by Leslie Thornton and Ron Vawter and "The Body Beautiful" by Ngozi Onwurah.

"Strange Space" by Leslie Thornton and Ron Vawter weaves images and sounds from a sonogram with the poetry of Rainer Marie Rilke. Copyright: Leslie Thornton and Ron Vawter.

Ngozi Onwurah's "The Body Beautiful" is an autobiographical work that deals with body image and the relationship between mothers and daughters. Copyright: B.F.I. Productions.

Series Description
The New Television Workshop originated at WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1974 to support the creation and development of experimental video art. This experimental programming included dance, drama, music, performance and visual arts on video and film. As early as 1968, WGBH was committed to the development of video art through residency programs, with artists such as Nam June Paik, and the "Rockefeller Artists-in-Television" project. Many of these early works (pre-1974) were broadcast both locally and nationally.

As an umbrella for arts related programming, the Workshop included "Artist's Showcase, " "Frames of Reference, " "Dance for Camera, " "Poetry Breaks," and "New Television," as well as acquired arts programming. Individual works were created for "Visions," a series produced by WNET (New York), and "Alive From Off Center," a series produced by KTCA (St. Paul - Minneapolis). The Contemporary Art Television (CAT) Fund was co-founded by the Workshop and Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in the 1980's, to commission works by video artists. In 1993 the Workshop ceased production at WGBH.

See also: http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/NTW/FA/TITLES/Body369.HTML