In conjunction with the exhibition Call Me by My Name, MUNCH invited director Gabriella Moses to interpret Edvard Munch’s painting of Sultan Abdul Karem with a green scarf into a film. In the movie "More than a Subject", Moses explores the experience of having to perform blackness and how being observed as an artistic subject shape one’s sense of identity.

“We want to explore the intersection of having to perform Blackness and how others shape one’s sense of identity when being observed as the subject. Sultan Abdul Karem’s relationship after all with Munch was primarily as a performer since he sat for him after they met at the circus.

The film breaches the past and the present. It explores the theme of “the subject”, voyeurism, and stereotypes through a modern lens. We see the process of the audition come to life. A Black man’s struggle to deliver on their individuality through an exhaustive performance and then to be reduced to nothing more than an idea or object. Our reveal is that everyone is watching.

Hosted by Munch Musset Norway

Directed by Gabriella Moses

Pryor Hill Productions

Costume/Wardrobe by ETC Agency with assistance by See

Custom durag by MWR Collection

Coloring: SODALITE

Drummer: Mbemba Bangoura

Music: KIZMIT Music

Dancer: Jared Jenkins

Actor: Andre Ozim

Actor: Ralphee Worldly

Actor: Marttise Hill