Catalogue > At random

Maya Han C18H10N2O4 2023, US, video essay/hybrid documentary, 35:00 (8:00 excerpt) C18H10N2O4 is the chemical compound of melanin, one of the most ancient and ubiquitous biological pigments found across nature, including in humans and fungi. Using as a point-of-departure melanin’s historical role as a spurious marker of racial categories, this essay film explores the surprising ways in which melanin and mycology are intertwined, uncovering connections to African and colonial histories, as well as the chemical’s fascinating larger role in nature and culture.

Maya Han is an artist, writer, and experimental filmmaker. Her work is a form of soft activism, critically engaging with issues of race, gender, class, labor, diasporic identities, and marginalized histories. Her education includes studies in Lettres et Langues from the Université de Paris III La Sorbonne Nouvelle and an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. She has screened and exhibited in the US and internationally including at the Harlem Film Festival, New York NY; The Film Gallery, Paris France; The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC; and the Busan International Film Festival, Busan South Korea. She can usually be found in Paris or in Brooklyn, where she is cultivating our garden.