Mary Martins-Pereira is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, documentary animator and historian, visualising the invisible archives of the Black Atlantic. My approach is guided by a decolonial framework, using experimental, animated documentaries to explore transatlantic histories, specialising in relations between Nigeria and Brazil across African diasporic communities in the UK. Through a professional body of international and national festival-selected films, her work questions the politics of space, activating underrepresented stories and memories of migration.
Her films have screened at international film festivals such as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, London International Animation Film Festival, London Short Film Festival, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Lagos International Animation Festival, Spark Animation Festival, Canada, Tricky Women Tricky Realities, London Piccadilly Lights, Berlin Limes, Seoul K-Pop Square, the Royal Academy, Barbican Centre, BFI, BBC4, Tate Britain, UCL Gallery, 198 Contemporary Gallery and toured with the British Film Council.
Nominated for best animated documentary at the British Animation Award, McLaren Animation Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Performance Short Film Competition. She was selected for Film London's Lodestar in Animation, won CIRCA x Dazed Art Prize in 2022 and the Mother Art Prize in 2018.
Education
PhD in African History and Animation - Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media
MA Animation (Documentary) - Royal College of Art
BA Animation and Moving Image - University of East London
BA Philosophy - University of Birmingham