Here is an extract from Session, the latest film from Glasgow-based artist Mandy McIntosh, commissioned by Picture This, Bristol.

Session considers the mental health of an 18th century slave called Pero who lived and worked in Bristol for his master John Pinney. Pinney’s house is now a museum but Pero’s room is closed to the public and used to store furniture. In the film, we see the room being cleared to create a space for art therapy sessions between African Caribbean men and Marian Liebmann, a therapist with specialist skills in conflict resolution. The men who appear in the film all participate in an advocacy and support service called Two Way Street in Bristol for Black and Minority Ethnic people with mental health issues. We watch them working with sugar to make sculptural forms which are then displayed in the house, animating the commodity that fuelled the slave trade in the Caribbean.

Credits
Director: Mandy McIntosh
Producer: Kat Anderson
Director of Photography: Nick Gordon Smith
Sound Recordist: Paul Baker
Camera Assistant: Edward Tucker
Animation: Mandy McIntosh
Off-line Editor: Ham and Enos
Online Editor: Ali Roche
Dubbing Mixer: Jonathan Jenkins

This film was commissioned and produced by Picture This as part of the Down at the Bamboo Club Programme. Down at the Bamboo Club was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Bristol Visual Arts Consortium.

Check out our interview with Mandy for more about the inspirations and processes behind the film.