HAUI’s “Aunt Harriet” draws together fragments of history at rEvolver Festival, May 24

Short film poetically reimagines the final day of a Black woman from an old photograph

rEvolver Festival presents “Aunt Harriet” at C-Lab on May 24 at 2 p.m.

ONTARIO MULTIDISCIPLINARY artist HAUI brings his fascinating short-film installation to rEvolver Festival this week—a piece inspired by a poetic encounter with a woman who died a century ago.

The beautifully shot “Aunt Harriet” was originally inspired by a 1925 photo of the singer Harriet Miller, an elderly Black woman pictured smoking a pipe in front of Guelph’s St. Joseph Hospital.

In HAUI’s rendition, performer ahdri zhina mandiela brings to life the woman in the image, drawing on the fragments of her little-known history, reciting poetry, and imagining what Harriet might have been reflecting on—on the last day of her life.

In the process, HAUI explores concepts of memory and tries to make visible Black women’s presence in the historical landscape, asserting their agency and resilience.

Or as HAUI puts it in an artist’s statement: “‘Aunt Harriet’ is a meditative moving portrait exploring introspection, healing, and aging.” (To see what we mean, check out the tiny but soulful snippet in the trailer below.)

The film installation comes here fresh from a screening at the Joburg Film Festival in South Africa, fitting aptly into rEvolver’s form-pushing mix, with its elements of cinema, visual art, theatre, poetry, and archival history. Following the screening, Upintheair Theatre will host a panel discussion and free soul food meal in The Cultch's lobby.

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Janet Smith

Janet Smith is founding partner and editorial director of Stir. She is an award-winning arts journalist who has spent more than two decades immersed in Vancouver’s dance, screen, design, theatre, music, opera, and gallery scenes. She sits on the Vancouver Film Critics’ Circle.

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