Hamilton, Ohio – First painting. Then music. Now film.
The third-ever SOS ART Artist-in-Residence – in partnership with the Fitton Center – highlights a third different artistic medium for expressing issues of social justice.
Subhasini Buttiyanda Appaiah (“You can call me Subha or Su,” she said) plans to tell a story close to her heart through a documentary film called The Unaccounted Force.
She will use her three-month residency – beginning in April - to explore the struggles of immigrants in the United States on dependent visas facing work restrictions and limited rights. Through self-chronicled stories, her film will share their personal journeys and search for self-worth.
“I am very passionate about talking about this marginalized group,” she said. “It’s important to tell this story. They can be acknowledged. They can contribute to this country.”
Subha was educated to be a journalist in her native country of India. But because many mass-market outlets have a specific political slant - and most have time constraints in the traditional television news format – she found the profession more restrictive than empowering.
She switched to filmmaking in 2006 to maintain an independent voice and have time to tell a deeper story.
“My journalism background helped me better understand the laws we were facing,” she said. “It helped me learn to tell a story and helped with the idea of serving people, or at least thinking in that direction.”
She has been in the United States off and on since 2015. She arrived in this area when her then fiancé – now husband – was working toward his master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati. (Currently a Graduate Research Assistant at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, he’s now almost finished with his PhD.)
Subha hopes to enter her finished film in festivals and competitions around the country to bring even wider visibility to the issue.
Before that, though, she offers a FREE workshop at the Fitton Center for ages 18 and up from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 29, as part of her residency.
A trailer for The Unaccounted Force becomes the center of a discussion about how participants can express their perspectives through art. Afterward, selected images and statements generated from the discussion will go on display in the Fitton Center’s Community Gallery alongside some of Subha’s own work.
Registration for the FREE workshop is available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center main office.
Community engagement is a key part of the SOS ART Artist-in-Residence program.
Inaugural artist-in-residence Chrissy Collopy hosted a collage workshop based on the problem of food insecurity. Student work appeared alongside a collection of Collopy’s paintings on the topic in the Fitton Center Community Gallery last May.
Next, the OLEA Ensemble used its residency to study social issues through music. Their free “Contemplations on Democracy” concerts in October used chamber music to explore themes including climate change, women’s rights and income inequality related to the 2024 presidential election. Several other Greater Cincinnati artists accompanied their music with literary and visual pieces related to the same themes.
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.
Building Community Excellence through the Arts and Culture
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