A Guide for Palace & All Her Friends is a 48-page booklet extension of Martine Syms’ debut feature, and MUBI release, The African Desperate. A satirical commentary on the art school experience, the film follows an MFA Graduate’s (Diamond Stingily) first twenty-four hours post-graduation, and navigates the human desire to belong, whilst critiquing the narcism of the creative class, and the realities of achieving success within the arts industry beyond the privileged gates of academic contemporary cultural production.
Following the film closely, the booklet features various personal and candid anecdotes from my friends currently enrolled in art universities. Stories range from the use of blood as silk-screen printing ink at Parsons, to bizarre performance art, and non-consensual hair-cutting. (Film - African Desperate, MUBI). [Film: African Desperate. All Rights Reserved by MUBI]