Michelle Williams Gamaker

Michelle Williams Gamaker is a Professor in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she teaches in the Department of Art. Based in London, she is a moving image and performance artist whose work explores the fiction-making machine of 20th Century British and Hollywood studio films through restaging sequences to reveal cinematic construction and recasting characters to propose alternative endings. She is also Chair of Trustees at Pavilion in Leeds and co-founder of the Women of Colour Index (WOCI) Reading Group with Samia Malik and Rehana Zaman.

• 2016: Postgraduate Certificate in the Management of Teaching and Learning (HEA)
• 2012: PhD in Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, University of London
• 2005-06: MA Visual Anthropology, Goldsmiths College, University of London
• 1998-01: BA Fine Art (First Class Hons), Middlesex University
• 1997-98: BTEC Diploma in Art & Design, Middlesex University
• 2003-05: de Ateliers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Williams Gamaker's key focus is the development of 'fictional activism': the restoration of marginalised brown characters as central figures who return in her works as vocal brown protagonists challenging historical cinematic injustices. Her practice involves scriptwriting, workshopping with actors, acquiring film paraphernalia, and producing props for intricate restagings of film sets. She explores migratory aesthetics, mental health, and the emotional complexities of capitalism and gender ideology through collaboration, particularly with artists Julia Kouneski and Mieke Bal. Her work with the WOCI Reading Group focuses on improving the visibility of women of colour artists while using archival material to generate discussion around current social and political concerns.

Her recent works demonstrate a consistent exploration of postcolonial narratives, feminist film theory, and decolonial aesthetics. The Dissolution Trilogy represents a significant body of work that deconstructs Powell and Pressburger's 1947 Black Narcissus, revealing how cinematic construction shapes representation. Her filmic approach combines historical critique with contemporary theoretical frameworks, particularly around race, gender, and representation in cinema.

Williams Gamaker is represented by Tintype Gallery, London, and her work has been exhibited internationally at venues including the BFI London Film Festival, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, and various galleries across Europe. She has also presented at academic conferences such as Spectacular Evidence: Theatres of the Observed Mind, where she discussed Lygia Clark's work on 'biological architecture'.

She has collaborated extensively with artist and cultural theorist Mieke Bal on projects including 'Madame B: Explorations in Emotional Capitalism' and 'Precarity,' which have been shown internationally at venues including Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Gallery of Sydney College of the Arts, and Museum Bärengasse in Zürich. Her collaborative practice extends to her work with Julia Kouneski, revisiting Brazilian artist Lygia Clark's psychotherapeutic work as inspiration for interventions with the body, architecture and landscape.