Peggy Ahwesh (born 1954 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania) is an American experimental filmmaker and video artist. She received her B.F.A. at Antioch College. A bricoleur who has created both narrative works and documentaries, some projects are scripted and others incorporate improvised performance. She makes use of sync sound, found footage, digital animation, and Pixelvision video. Her work is primarily an investigation of cultural identity and the role of the subject in various genres. Her interests include genre; women, sexuality and feminism; reenactment; and artists' books. Her works have been shown worldwide, including in San Francisco, New York, Barcelona, London, Toronto, Rotterdam, and Créteil, France. Starting in 1990, she has taught at Bard College as a Professor of Film and Electronic Arts. Her teaching interests include: experimental media, history of the non-fiction film, and women in film.
Career Peggy Ahwesh went to Antioch College, where she became enamored with the works of radical artists and filmmakers like Paul Sharits, Tony Conrad, Carolee Schneeman and Joyce Wieland. After college, she returned to her hometown of Cannonsburg, where she began her film career working on Super 8 film. She thought Cannonsburg was a small industrial town that offered a freeing artistic feel. During the 1970s, she became involved with the local punk rock scene, and would create short films with her friends documenting the punk bands.
Following this, she began working at The Mattress Factory—a large art warehouse in Pittsburgh—where she began her own film series. One of her first guests was filmmaker George A. Romero. She began to show his work locally and befriended Romero's crew. By 1982, she began to work her way into the industry as a production assistant on Romero's feature films. There, she met good friends Natalka Voslakov and Maggie Strosser. Ahwesh claims Romero to be a huge influence on her as he was knowledgeable on race, gender, and independent films. Soon, Ahwesh joined Pittsburgh Filmmakers as a programmer. She also wrote grants and collaborated with local clubs and the University of Pittsburgh. In 1980, Ahwesh did a big group show of local filmmakers. She liked the idea of group shows because they got everybody involved.
By 1983, she created what is known as The Pittsburgh Trilogy—three films made back to back that documented the lives of her friends during the summer of 1983. Ahwesh claims the three films: Verite Opera (1983), Paranormal Intelligence (1983), and Nostalgia for Paradise (1983) are not diary films, narratives or documentaries but rather "portraits" of her friends. The three films helped explore Ahwesh's interest in her friends and helped answer the questions of what kind of relationship does one have with a person, what kind of relationship does the camera have with a person, how do you shoot positive and negative space and what is it about people that makes them interesting? Ahwesh was not aware that she had copied the name for the trilogy from another experimental filmmaker, Stan Brakhage.
In 1990, she received recognition for her film The Deadman (1990) due to her use of 16mm opposed to her favored Super 8. In 2001, Ahwesh took her art to another level by using footage from the game Tomb Raider in her experimental piece She Puppet (2001), which explored female identity and the evolution of technology.
In 1990, she began teaching at Bard College. Currently, she is Professor Emerita of Film and Electronic Art while pursuing her own projects.http://mfjonline.org/journalPages/MFJ39/macdonaldpage.html
Awards Bard College Research Grant (2002) Creative Capital (2002) Alpert Award in the Arts, Cal Arts/Alpert Foundation (2000) New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), Video Fellowship (2000) New York Foundation for the Arts (NYSCA), Film/Video Fellowship (1993) (2002) New York Foundation for the Arts (NYSCA), Distribution Grant (1992) (1999) Guggenheim Foundation, Fellowship (1996) Jerome Foundation, Film Project Award (1990) (1998) Art Matters (1992) (1995)
Selected filmography Bethlehem (2009) 8 minutes, color, video The Third Body (2008) 9 min, color, video Warm Objects (2007) 5 min, color, video Beirut Outtakes (2007) 7 min, video Dedication (2006) 4 min, color, video Certain Women, with Bobby Abate, (2004) 72 min, video The Star Eaters (2003), 24 min, video She Puppet (2001), 15 min, color, video Heaven's Gate (2000–01), 3:53 min, b&w, video 73 Suspect Words & Heaven's Gate (1999–2000) 8 min, video Nocturne (1998) 30 min, b&w, 16 mm film The Vision Machine (1997), 20 min, b&w and color, 16 mm film Magnetism, Attraction and Repulsion, Deep Sleep, Auto Suggestion, Animal Magnetism, Mesmerism, and Fascination (1996), 16 min, color, video Trick Film (1996), 5 min, 16mm film The Color of Love (1994), 10 min, color, sound, 16 mm film The Scary Movie (1993), 9 min, b&w, sound, 16 mm film Strange Weather, with Margie Strosser, (1993) 50 min, video, b&w Martina's Playhouse (1989), 20 min, color, sound, Super 8 film The Deadman, with Keith Sanborn, (1990), 39 min, b&w, 16 mm film I Ride a Pony Named Flame (1988) 5 min, video Philosophy in the Bedroom (1987) 10 min, Super 8 film From Romance to Ritual (1985) 10 min, Super 8 film The Fragments Project (1985–1995), 50 min, color, sound, Super 8 film Ode to the New Pre-History (1984–1987) 25 min, Super 8 film Pittsburgh Trilogy (1983) 50 min, Super 8 film
Selected screenings and exhibitions 2021: One Person Shows Vision Machines; Spike Island, Bristol, UK 2019: One Person Shows Cleave; Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2014-2015: One Person Shows Kissing Point; Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2006: One Person Shows Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia; Madrid, Spain (retrospective) American University of Beirut; Beirut, Lebanon Anthology Film Archives; NY, NY (theatrical run, Certain Women) "Ahwesh: Personal Archive Show", Anthology Film Archives; NY, NY 2006. Selected Festivals. Group Shows "Stitch & Split: Selves & Territories in Science Fiction", Fundació Antoni Tàpies; Barcelona, Spain The Württembergischer Kunstverein; Stuttgart, Germany IAMNOWHERE, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College; Annandale, NY "The Imagination of Disaster", Ocularis; Brooklyn, NY Silverlake Film Festival: MP4 Fest, Los Angeles, CA Copilandia: una Isla Libre de Propiedad Intellectual, Seville, Spain (traveled) "Art as a Form of Conversation", Dashanzi Arts Festival, Beijing, China (traveled) Centre de Cultura Contemporania, Barcelona, Spain "Games People Play", Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA Foundation for Art, Culture & Technology, Liverpool, UK "Breaking the Game", www.workspace-unlimited.org (on-line symposium) 2005. One Person Shows Wisconsin Film Festival; Madison, WI (retrospective) femme totale; Dortmund, Germany (screening & panel) University of Chicago, Film Studies Center; Chicago, Il 2005. Selected Festivals. Group Shows Pompidou Center; Paris, France MIX: NY Lesbian & Gay Experimental Film Festival; NY, NY "Jerome, Hill & Foundation", MoMA; NY, NY (screening & panel) The Childhood Show, Magic Lantern Cinema; Providence, RI "Brides of Frankenstein", San Jose Museum of Art; San Jose, CA 2004. One Person Shows Rotterdam International Film Festival; Rotterdam, The Netherlands The Museum of Modern Art, Mediascope; New York, NY New York Underground Film Festival; New York, NY (traveled) Institute for Studies in the Arts, ASU; Tempe, Arizona "Videos by Peggy Ahwesh", Terrorvision Show, Exit Art; New York, NY Redcat Theater, California Institute of the Arts; Valencia, CA (residency) Chicago Underground Film Festival; Chicago, IL Brighton Cinematheque; Brighton, UK Zinebi 46 Festival; Bilbao, Spain Cinematexas 10; Austin, TX Union Theater, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Milwaukee, WI 2004. Selected Festivals. Group Shows "Visions of Excess" Press Play Video, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA "The Walking Picture Palace", Anthology Film Archives; NY, NY New York Video Festival; Film Society of Lincoln Center; New York, NY European Media Arts Festival; Osnabruck, Germany "Acting Out", York University; Toronto, Canada Festival of Contemporary Arts: City of Women; Ljubljana, Slovenia "Lookalike: Barbie Lolita Lara Croft", Nederlands Fotomuseum; Amsterdam, the Netherlands 2003. One Person Shows Mills College Art Museum, Contemporary Exhibitions; Oakland, CA Pixil This 12; LA, CA Princeton University; Princeton, NJ Binghamton University; Binghamton, NY 2003. Selected Festivals. Group Shows Image Forum Festival; Tokyo, Japan (traveled) Russian National Contemporary Art Center, Experimental Videos from US; Moscow, Russia (traveled) "I Wonder About You and Through You: Women Respond to Technology with Wonder and Caution"; Portland, OR Bellevue Arts Museum; Seattle, WA Moscow International Film Fest; Russia (traveled) MoMA, Stand-by retrospective program; NY Fundacio Antoni Tàpies, "Stitch and Split: Selves and Territories in Science Fiction"; Barcelona, Spain "Mirror, Mirror", Surrey Institute of Art & Design; London, UK 2002. One Person Shows "Sandbox Antics, Tantrums, and Tourist Attractions", Pittsburgh Filmmakers and Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA (retrospective) New Collaborations: Electronic Intersections, Institute for Electronic Arts, School of Art and Design, Alfred University; Alfred, NY (conference) 2002. Selected Festivals. Group Shows 2002 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY Rotterdam International Film Festival; Rotterdam, The Netherlands Image Forum Festival; Tokyo, Japan (traveled) Animations, P.S.1/MoMA; Queens, NY (traveled Kunst Werke Berlin) Electromediascope, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Department of Modern and Contemporary Art; Kansas City, MO Dangerous Beauty: The Videos, Jewish Community Center; NY Verbindingen/Jonctions Festival 6; Brussels, Belgium Machine Love, Vidarte 2002 International Festival; Mexico City, Mexico FILMS THAT RISE TO THE SURFACE (OF CLARIFIED BUTTER); Balagan, Boston "Catastrophe & Spectacle", Oberhausen Film Festival; Oberhausen, Germany 2001. One Person Shows California Institute of the Arts; Valencia, CA (screenings/residency) Sam Spiegel Film School; Jerusalem, Israel (screenings/residency) The Jerusalem Cinematheque; Jerusalem, Israel Women Direct, Ithaca College; Ithaca, NY (screening & conference) "All the Girls with Cameras in Their Heads", Cinematexas 6; Austin, TX (retrospective) 2001. Selected Festivals. Group Shows Laracroft:ism, On Female Heroines, Nomads and Residents panel; NY "Imitation of Kiss", Warhol Museum; Pittsburgh, PA (traveled) Three Women from Brooklyn, Ocularis; Brooklyn, NY New York Video Festival, Film Society of Lincoln Center; NY Pandaemonium: Festival of the Moving Image; London, UK (traveled) Some Kind of Loving, Joanie4Jackie (curator Astria Suparak) (traveled) The Stained Handkerchief, Maastricht; The Netherlands (traveled) To Make it Better Every Time: Internal Security; Munich, Germany (traveled) "All is Fair in Love and War"; Amsterdam, the Netherlands (traveled) 2000. One Person Shows The Flaherty Seminar, International Film Seminars, NY (curator Kathy Geritz) The American Century: Art & Culture (1950–2000), Whitney Museum of American Art; New York, NY 2000. Selected Festivals. Group Shows The End: An Independent View of Contemporary Culture ('82-'00), Exit Art; NY Science is Fiction: The Films of Jean Painleve, MoMA; NY "The Color of Ritual, The Color of Thought", Whitney Museum of American Art; NY World Wide Video Festival; Amsterdam, the Netherlands DUMBO Arts Festival; Brooklyn, NY Cinematexas 5, Austin, TX The Trinity Show, Ocularis; Brooklyn, NY (curator Jim Browne) 1999. One Person Shows The Guggenheim Museum; NY (lecture) LUX Cinema; London, England (retrospective) Warhol's Grave, The Balie Theater; Amsterdam, the Netherlands