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A couple of years ago I did a talk on the co-option + repackaging of political movements by mainstream culture and institutions via Beyonce's Lemonade at an event attended by predominantly young white women at BFI. It was a sticky horrible experience that haunted me for a while.
The context felt off, audience slightly disengaged, I tried to talk abt it 2 a few people, untangle it + got a lot of blank faces. I looked 4 some critique online but I didn't find much + I just assumed I'd not 'packaged my ideas well' .. something white ppl had said 2 me b4
Later that year I was abt to start my Fellowship, I started listening to @thewhitepube + heard their piece "The Problem with Diaspora Art" https://soundcloud.com/thewhitepube/the-problem-with-diaspora-art w articulated much of my discomfort w/ the kind of public programming I had been participating in
+that was making me question my place in film exhibition. @heavier_things linked me w/ @gabrielledlp & @ZarinaMuhammad + we had a chat abt an idea I had 4 a public programme thinking this thru. We had brunch + Z ate cake + said "why does it have to be public?" G took this pic
I thought abt that a lot over the next months. Linked up w peeps in Toronto, New York, Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi. Asked lots of questions + came back w/ lots more. Then 1 weekend last Jul I sat down 2 write "The Arts are in the Sunken Place - How do We Get Out" https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-xkvc1ZdlL1r8TzUNfQObDu5B8dLi_pUAkwWK8yOkQY/edit?usp=sharing
And @ZarinaMuhammad sat down to write "The problem w representation" https://www.thewhitepube.co.uk/representation + we talked about their resonances. Soon after my friend Madani Younis left his job at the Southbank Centre + conversations w/ him fed into a research project I'm in the final stages of
"This Work isn't for Us" started as s/thing abt public programming but turned into an exploration of what it feels like to be the so called 'beneficiary' of 'diversity', what u have 2 process IN YOUR BODY+accept if u r marginalised+ asked 2 deliver it in all its problematic glory
The research looks at policy language, professional development, public programme + resistance (the possibility of speaking out in the context of a cultural landscape scarred by institutional whiteness). I had the honour 2 collect testimonies of real arts workers I luv+respect
I thought abt how 2 draw attention 2 those who exclude rather than those 2 be 'included'? What price is paid 2 participate in a system that shows indifference/contempt 4 mine + others' realities? In between I wrote a lot, 4 the research, 4 the institution, 2 colleagues + friends.
I am now considering what the point was. Can any of that go anywhere? Will any1 listen? Who are we talking to when we write critique? What does it mean 2 enact a politics of articulation? Basically how do we collectively help each other 2 say things that might enact change?
If you are interested in these questions, I'll be hosting some PUBLIC (!!) conversations thru @LUXmovingimage w/ artists + thinkers who continue 2 shape the work I'm doing. First up is the OG @ZarinaMuhammad on 27 May. Book here! https://lux.org.uk/event/this-work-isnt-for-us
