Peaches Goes Bananas

Followed by a talk with Agnessa Schmudke and Peaches

Over 17 years, filmmaker Marie Losier chronicled the life and boundary-pushing artistry of Merrill Nisker—better known as artist, musician and queer feminist icon Peaches. In Peaches Goes Bananas, Losier’s signature blend of whimsy, intimacy, and kinetic energy, captured via her trusty Bolex camera, weaves a kaleidoscopic tapestry. The film pulses with a rhythm that mirrors Peaches herself—an ever-evolving queer feminist trailblazer who reinvents sound, performance, and identity through costumes (think vulva-shaped headwear and metallic bodysuits), raucous concerts, and avant-garde operas. From her early days teaching kids at the YMCA to her electrifying stage presence in her late 50s, the documentary stitches together moments of unbridled joy, collaboration, and introspection. Peaches grapples with aging, loss, and menopause, yet never loses her grip on the zeitgeist. (BH)

Agnessa Schmudke is a curator and art historian based in Berlin. After studying, she helped establish Callie’s—an international artist residency and interdisciplinary platform for artists, located next to SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA. It was there that she met Peaches in 2022, during the artist’s residency while preparing for her anniversary tour and filming segments of the documentary Teaches of Peaches. Together, they brought Peaches’ extraordinary costume archive to Callie’s—a collection of over 20,000 pieces chronicling decades of groundbreaking performance work.