About

This research will critically evaluate the films of avant-garde filmmaker Amy Greenfield (born 1950) and inscribe them in a pertinent interdisciplinary framework that underscores the artist’s pioneering contributions to representations of gender and ecology in the fields of moving images and performance practices during the late 20th century. Through her innovative approach to women’s agency and the equitable portrayal of humans to non-human relations within the natural landscape, Greenfield’s work is highly relevant for the present-day pursuits of climate justice and gender equality. Today, Greenfield’s early movement-based films (1970-1990) continue to screen internationally at renowned film institutions, which makes it all the more striking that her oeuvre has yet to be the subject of in-depth research that reflects her ground-breaking practice. The outset of Greenfield’s career coincided with the dynamic junction of creative and socio-political movements of the 1970s, including expanded cinema, new approaches to site-specific performance and eco-feminism, and resulted in a body of work that the artist refers to as ‘transformation through cinema’. Despite these contributions to the arts and humanities, only Greenfield herself and her late husband, Robert Haller, have published substantial texts on the artist’s body of work. Contemporary efforts to rethink and transform global film cannons are thus a key component of this research that will recognise the ongoing significance of Amy Greenfield’s films. The applicant hopes this will be the first of several research projects that seek to improve scholarship and visibility of minority filmmakers who remain underrepresented within academic film studies, particularly artists who identify as women, LGBTQ+, and/or of colour.