Self-taught artist Nellie Mae Rowe lived most of her life in obscurity, tucked away in Georgia in her home where she surrounded herself with chewing-gum sculptures, colorful rag dolls, and whimsical drawings made with crayons, gouache, pens, and pencils that centered on imaginative characters and frequently featured an elaborate signature. Born on July 4, 1900 to a sharecropper and formerly enslaved father, she made art without experiencing much of the fame that it brought her after her death in 1982.
After years hidden from the spotlight, Rowe is now front and center in the feature-length documentary This World Is Not My Own (2023) directed by Opendox filmmakers Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell. Split into four parts plus an interlude, the film retraces the long-overlooked artist’s life by contextualizing her work, distinct for its playful characters and dreamlike settings, in the world in which she lived, rife with racial discrimination and violence that lingered in the South after the end of slavery. It dives into historical events like the 1906 Atlanta race massacre and the 1913 murder of factory worker Mary Phagan, followed by the lynching of her Jewish manager Leo Frank.
The film also explores Rowe’s relationships, including her bonds to her nieces and nephews (she never had children of her own) and her deep friendship with her gallerist Judith Alexander, whom she met six years before her death. The daughter of prominent segregationist lawyer Henry Alexander, Judith ultimately became one of Rowe’s most significant supporters, helping cement her legacy in an art world that never considered her during much of her lifetime.
“It was really important that we brought you not just to the story of Nelly’s life, but to the scenarios for which her life was set in,” Stillwell said in an interview with Hyperallergic. “What was going on at that time, what she was dealing with … artists are here to interpret things we can’t say and things that we don’t always know how to say, and I think that her work represents that.”
The documentary merges various storytelling elements, including traditional-style interviews with Rowe’s family, friends, Atlanta arts scholars, and Georgia historians, and scripted scenes featuring digitally animated characters voiced by actors Uzo Aduba and Amy Warren. The three-dimensional animations are set in an analog environment consisting of a detailed reimagining of Rowe’s “playhouse” in Vinings, demolished after her death and replaced by a luxury hotel. The miniature model of the house is featured in the High Museum of Art’s traveling exhibition Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe, currently on view at Lehigh University Art Galleries in Pennsylvania through December 7. The show is slated to continue in 2025 at the California African American Museum with dates to be announced in the near future.
But while Rowe’s work and the artful reconstruction of her playhouse are crucial elements to the documentary, Still emphasized that This World Is Not My Own “is not about art.”
“What we really wanted to do is make the art a part of the character, a part of the story in a more meaningful way,” Stillwell said. “Beyond what Nellie was living through and living for, I think her art speaks louder than maybe some of the narrative and words that have been written for her.”
This World Is Not My Own will screen for free on November 20 at Cooper Union’s Frederick P. Rose Auditorium in Manhattan followed by a Q&A with the directors. Tickets are first-come-first-serve; those interested can register here.
