Radha May's 'When the Towel Drops' Explores Censored Female Sexuality in Milan

The collective Radha May, formed in 2014 by Italian Elisa Giardina Papa, Ugandan Bathsheba Okwenje, and Indian Nupur Mathur, investigates hidden female histories and myths that have shaped women's identities. Their ongoing project 'When the Towel Drops' examines censored representations of female sexuality and pleasure from the 1950s to today, using previously unseen film sequences. The first volume focuses on Italy, drawing from the Archivio della Revisione Cinematografica, including footage cut from negatives and censorship commission documents, which serve as the basis for video installations and performances. On May 14, 2019, at 7 PM, the project will be presented at Fondazione Il Lazzaretto in Milan during a talk featuring Elisa Giardina Papa, curator Claudia D'Alonzo, journalist Federico Nejrotti, cultural activator Oliviero Ponte di Pino, and curator Maria Paola Zedda. The Milanese iteration is a new, participatory version. A three-day workshop on May 21, 23, and 24, led by Giardina Papa, will produce a performance/installation to be presented in November during the Festival Peste! at the foundation. A call for participants aims to assemble a diverse, intergenerational, and intercultural group to work on the archive of scenes, selecting and analyzing documents, and later re-circulating them, including by creating or editing Wikipedia entries.