Speaking for Ourselves

Events in London

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16/07/2020

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Tuesday 23 April

* Refugee Week 2024 Schools Meet Up, 4-5.15pm, free, online. Info: Eventbrite

* Mind what you wear in public: China’s controversial proposed amendments to police-administered penalties, Mei Ning Yan, Ewan Smith, 6pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2. Info: LSE

* Beyond survival: displacement, rights and wellbeing, Alexandra Spencer, Leen Fouad, Nadia Siddiqui, 11am-12.30pm online. Info: ODI

* Sacred Civics: Shaping our systems as if peoples, lands and natures were sacred, Jayne Engle, Manuwi C Tokai, Fang-Jui 'Fang-Raye' Chang, 1-2pm online. Info: Migrants in Culture

* Disentangling government responses: How do we know when accountability work is gaining traction?, Brendan Halloran, Jonathan Fox, Ima Akpan, Salbiyah, 1-2.30pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies

Wednesday 24 April

* Wages Not Warrants! Demonstration and Walking Tour, solidarity with garment workers in Bangladesh and elsewhere on the 11th anniversary of the Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka that killed 1,100 garment workers in an entirely preventable building collapse, 6:15-8pm, Soho Square Gardens, W10 3QP. Info: War on Want

* The EU-Africa migration agenda – realising a new partnership, Pawel Busiakiewicz, Linda Oucho, Catherine Woollard, Sabelo Mbokazi, 4.30-6pm online. Info: ODI

* The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India, Alpa Shah “pulls back the curtain on Indian democracy in a sweeping investigation into Indian fascism, cyber warfare and tech surveillance and democratic rights activism and resistance”, 5pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1. Info: SOAS

Thursday 25 April

* Policy conference: what’s next for EU migration and development policy?, Camilla Hagström, Richard Danziger, Sabelo Mbokazi, Ambassador Hugo Verbist, 9.30am-5pm. Info: Overseas Development Institute

* Abolition is Presence: Mapping the practices and possibilities of border abolition in the UK, Gracie Mae Bradley, Kelsey M, Azfar Shafi, Nishma Jethwa, 1-2pm online. Info: Migrants in Culture

* The Time is Now: Power, Accountability, and the Fight for Migrant Justice, Shamim Sarabi, Sonali Naik KC, Zehrah Hasan, Narmi Thiranagama, Ali Ghaderi, Diyora Shadijanova, Daniel Trilling, Louis Bxter, 4.30-6.30pm. Info: click here to register.

* War, Genocide and Other Crimes, Philippe Sands explores topics of justice, international law, human rights and conflict resolution including Sudan, Israel-Gaza and Ukraine, 7-8.15pm, IWM, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ and online. Info: Imperial War Museum

* 20 Years in Afghanistan, Andrew North, 6-7.30pm, £16.80, Ukrainian Cathedral, W1K 5BQ. Info: Frontline

* Casting forward: Configuring development and development studies for troubled times, Ernest Aryeetey, Melissa Leach, Naomi Hossain, Deepak Nayyar, Ian Scoones, Isatou Touray, online, 4-5.30pm. Info Institute of Development Studies

Friday 26 April

* Art, colonialism and change: symposium, Grace Aneiza Ali, Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Mia L. Bagneris, Clive Chijioke Nwonka, Nika Elder, Zehra Jumabhoy, Erica Moiah James, Elizabeth Robles, Mathura Umachandran, Olu Ogunnaike and Shahzia Sikander, 10am-6pm, £45/£15, Royal Academy, Piccadilly. Info: RA

Sunday 28 April

* East is East: Creativity, Impact, Legacy, director, designer and actor from the 1996 production of the play, part of Bhuchar Boulevard’s ‘Retracing Our Footsteps’ initiative to create a British South Asian Theatre Archive, 1.30pm, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7, part of V&A

Exhibitions

* Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King, the life and legacy of the maharaja, 1780-1839, Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1 until 20 October. Info: www.wallacecollection.org

+ Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King: glittering remnants of empire

* Entangled Pasts, 1768-now: Art, Colonialism and Change, “over 100 contemporary and historic works as part of a conversation about art’s role in shaping narratives of empire, enslavement, resistance, abolition and colonialism - and how it may help set a course for the future”, £22, under-16s free, 16-25-year-olds half price, Royal Academy, Piccadilly, until 28 April. Info: RA

+ ‘A world of argument and conflict, disagreement and adoration’

* The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, explore the Black figure in Western art history with contemporary artists from the African diaspora, including Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Hurvin Anderson, Michael Armitage, Jordan Casteel, Noah Davis, Godfried Donkor, Kimathi Donkor, Denzil Forrester, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Titus Kaphar, Kerry James Marshall, Wangechi Mutu, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Chris Ofili, Jennifer Packer, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Thomas J Price, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Henry Taylor and Barbara Walker, curated by Ekow Eshun, £16-£18, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE, until 19 May. Info: NPG

+ African diaspora art: from ‘looking at’ to ‘seeing from’

* Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, using textiles, fibre and thread, 50 international artists (countries of origin include The Philippines, South Africa, Egypt, Chile, Argentina, Morocco, Mexico, Paraguay, Haiti, Panama, Malaysia, South Korea, Uganda, Brazil, Ghana, Zimbabwe, India, Guatemala, India, Lebanon, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Malawi and Peru) challenge power structures and reimagine the world, £16, Thursdays 5-8pm pay what you can, The Barbican, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, until 26 May. Info: Barbican

+ Goodbye gentle craft, hello subversive stitch

* Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest, artists include: Laia Abril, Hoda Afshar, Poulomi Basu, Guerrilla Girls, Sofia Karim, Mari Katayama, Sethembile Msezane, Zanele Muholi, Tabita Rezaire, Sheida Soleimani, Tourmaline, free, South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH and Gallery Fire Station, 82 Peckham Road, until 9 June. Info: Gallery

* The Cult of Beauty, notions of beauty across time and cultures. Wellcome Collection, Euston Road, NW1, until 28 April.

* Burtynsky: Extraction/ Abstraction, largest exhibition of works by the world- renowned photographer featuring large-scale photographs, murals, film and augmented reality, Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY , until 6 May. Info: https://www.saatchigallery.com/

* Soulscapes, contemporary retelling of landscape by artists from the African Diaspora, £17.50, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, SE21 7AD, until 2 June. Info: Soulscapes

* Antelope, Malawian, Oxford-based artist Samson Kambalu’s sculpture on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

* 茶, चाय, Tea (Chá, Chai, Tea), explores the many stories of the beverage, spanning millennia and connecting communities across the world, free, Horniman Museum, 100 London Road, SE23, until 7 July. Info: Exhibition

* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire. British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG.

* British Library, installation of 6,328 books celebrates the ongoing contributions made by immigrants to Britain. Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG.

* Suspended States, Yinka Shonibare riffs on colonialism’s ecological impact, imperialism's legacy on conflict and peace attempts, Serpentine Galleries, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA , until 1 September. Info: Serpentine

* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage. Free, every second Saturday of the month, V&A museum, Cromwell Avenue, SW7.

* Art Now: Zeinab Saleh, paintings and drawings by Kenyan-born, London-based artist, free, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG, until 23 June. Info: Tate

* Genocidal Captivity: Retelling the Stories of Armenian and Yezidi Women, using records of Armenian survivors from the 1920s and recent interviews with Yezidi survivors in Iraq, Wiener Holocaust Library, 29 Russell square, WC1B 5DP, until 31 May. Info: Wiener Library

* Bamboo as Method, Hong Kong-based artist Zheng Bo’s bamboo garden using 300 locally sourced bamboos. Visitors are encouraged to select from 10 species of bamboo arranged in alcoves with seating and spend time sketching the unique characteristics of individual leaves on biodegradable paper, which will then be composted into the soil to fertilise the garden – completing a cycle of creativity and ecology, Somerset House, The Strand, WC2R 1LA, until 28 April. Info: Somerset House

* Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2024, shortlisted artists include India-born Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Lebohang Kganye, born in South Africa, and Syria-born Hrair Sarkissdian, Photographer’s Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1 until 2 June. Info: Photographers Gallery

+ 15 May, Gill and Vangad discuss their depictions of India, 3-4.30pm, £8/£5

* Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence, an architectural style that, despite its British colonial beginnings in the 1940s, evolved into a symbol of a postcolonial future in West Africa and India, £14, Victoria & Albert Museum, Crowell Road, SW7 until 22 September. Info: V&A

+ How sunlight, humidity and independence made a new ism

* Heart of the Nation: Migration and the NHS, until 27 July + Nowhere To Go but Anywhere, solo exhibition by Tribambuka, until 25 May, both free, Migration Museum, Lewisham Shopping Centre, SE13 7HB. Info: Migration Museum

* Performing Colonial Toxicity, maps, photographs, film, stills, documents and archival testimonies documenting France’s secret nuclear programme in Algeria in 1954-62, free, Mosaic Rooms, Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, SW5 0SW, until 16 June. Info: www.mosaicrooms.org

* Polly Braden: Leaving Ukraine, an intimate portrait of women forced to leave their homes following the Russian invasion in February 2022 — extraordinary journeys undertaken by mothers, daughters, teenagers and babies in arms, £12.75/ £10.50/ 21 & under, free, Foundling Museum, 40 Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ, until 1 September. Info: 7841 3600/ https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/

* Their mouths were full of bumblebees but it was me who was pollinated, Moroccan artist Soufiane Ababri explores questions of desire, queerness, and diaspora and sets out to challenge the dominance of Western narratives in queer history, free, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS until 30 June. Info: Barbican

* Ibrahim Mahama: Purple Hibiscus, 2,000 square metres of pink and purple fabric woven and hand sewn by hundreds of craftspeople from Tamale in Ghana and embroidered with 100 ‘batakaris’ – robes worn by Ghanaian kings, free, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, until 18 August. Info: Barbican

from Tuesday 23 April

* Heaven Is Dry, week of projects celebrating Kenyan artist Richard Kimathi including launch of a documentary film and publication, Africa Centre, 66-68 Great Suffolk Street, SE1 0BL until 28 April. Info: Africa Centre

Thursday 25 April

* Paper Cuts: Art, Bureaucracy & Silenced Histories in Colonial India, collection of works on paper by British colonialists in 19th-century India + contemporary artworks by Ravista Mehra and Divya Sharma, weekdays 10am - 8pm, free, Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD, until 12 July. Info: Gallery

from Friday 26 April

* Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music, “from letters by 18th-century composer Ignatius Sancho, to glittering props and outfits of glamorous performers, records from the likes of Fela Kuti and Shirley Bassey, and nostalgic video archive of grime’s golden era, join us for a celebration of the trailblazers and innovators that brought new music to the UK, and the layered Black experiences that have birthed a thriving musical culture and history”, British Library, Euston Road, NW1 2DB until 26 August. Info: British Library

+ 500 years of Black British music

Film

* Lo Capitano, the story Seydou and Moussa, two Senegalese teenagers who leave Dakar to travel to Europe where they believe opportunities await, Lexi, Garden, ICA, The Mall

* Opponent, Iman and his family flee Iran and end up in a hotel-turned-refugee centre in northern Sweden. Iman maintains his role as family patriarch but breaks a promise to his wife and joins the local wrestling club. Rumours spread and Iman's fear and desperation begin to take a hold, Castle Cinema, until 25 April; 22 April, Crouch End Picturehouse

* If Only I Could Hibernate, hope-filled Mongolian coming-of-age drama about resilience and determination against the odds, ICA, Ther Mall, until 25 April

* Queer East Festival 2024, “queer cinema, moving image work and live arts from, and about, East and Southeast Asia and its diaspora communities”. Programme includes 22 April, The Missing, when an alien tries to kidnap him, a mouthless young animator must face up to his traumatic memories. Until 28 April. Info: https://queereast.org.uk/

Monday 22 April

* Pather Panchali, Satyajit Ray’s debut about an impoverished family in rural Bengal remains one of the greatest films about childhood experience, 6pm, National Film Theatre

from Monday 22 April

* ASEAN Film Festival, contemporary Southeast Asian features from each member state - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, SOAS, Thornborough Street, WC1H 0XG until 27 April. Info: Festival

Wednesday 24 April

* Abang Adik, undocumented orphan brothers Abang and Adik live in Malaysia: one is deaf-mute and works hard to achieve stability, the other turns to criminality, 8.30pm, National Film Theatre

from Wednesday 24 April

* Open City Documentary Festival, 161 films from 35 countries + talks and workshops. Programme includes works produced through an initiative documenting personal histories of China’s Great Famine of 1959 – 1961 and on 25 April Of the People, For the People: Militant Palestinian Cinema, collection of Palestinian films made between 1960 and 1970 + discussion with Lina Khatib and Nadia Yaqub. Barbican, Curzon Bloomsbury, Close-Up Film Centre, Genesis Cinema, Institute of Contemporary Arts, LUX, Tate Modern and Rich Mix, until 30 April. Info: Open City

Thursday 25 April

* Nezouh, preview of a “new, beautiful and enchanting feminist coming-of-age drama from an award-winning Syrian filmmaker” + Q&A with director Soudade Kaadan, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre

+ A hole in the ceiling offers an escape from war - and patriarchy?

* Mapinsula, restored after years of suppression, this rare anti-apartheid film was made under extreme censorship, and by evasion of the authorities + Q&A with director Oliver Schmitz and a pre-recorded archive interview with actor and co-writer Thomas Mogotlane, 8pm, Garden cinema

Friday 26 April

* Green Night, oppressed by her Korean husband, a Chinese woman sets out on a thrilling adventure with a mysterious green-haired girl, finding her chance to finally break free and claim her independence + online Q&A with director Han Shuai (part of the ‘Dancing with Water: women’s cinema from contemporary China’ programme), 3.30pm, Garden cinema

from Friday 26 April

* Omen, magic realist tale of family, relationships, suspicion and belonging in D R Congo + Q&As with Belgium Congolese musician Baloji: 26 April, BFI Southbank, 27 April, Somerset House, 28 April, Picturehouse Ritzy, 30 April, Garden Cinema, 1 May, ICA

+ Family and sorcery in D R Congo

* Drift, a quiet (apart from flashbacks) study of a friendship between a Liberian refugee on a Greek island and an American tour guide + Q&A, 8pm, Rich Mix

* Tomorrow’s Freedom, documentary about imprisoned Palestinian freedom fighter Marwan Barghouti told through the testimony of his family and inner circle, interspersed with interviews from political figures from Israel, Palestine and South Africa, Curzon Bloomsbury

+ Hopes and fears for the Palestinian serving five life sentences

Saturday 27-Sunday 28 April

* Chronic Youth Film Festival, includes Gaston Kaboré’s Zan Boko, a fierce critique of rampant urbanisation and media censorship in 1980s Burkina Faso, and Anhell69, which weaves fiction and documentary into a rumination on grief, friendship and sexuality in present-day Colombia, Barbican cinemas, Beech Street, EC2Y 8DS. Info: Festival

from Sunday 28 April

* Elaha, drama in which a woman faces a dilemma before her wedding - whether to try to cover up the fact that she is no longer a virgin, a state of ‘honour’ considered essential by her German-Kurdish community and her strict mother, 7pm, Garden cinema, until 2 May

Performance

* Agathe, "the true story of the extraordinary woman who became Rwanda's head of state for less than a day. Created through extensive research including first-hand accounts from witnesses and survivors of the genocide", The Playground Theatre, 8 Latimer Road, W10 6RQ until 4 May. Info: Agathe

+ You'll never forget the woman you've never heard of

* For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, six young Black men meet for group therapy, and let their hearts and imaginations run wild, from £15, Garrick Theatre, Charing Cross Road, WC2H 0HH until 4 May. Info: Garrick

* Taiwan Festival, more than 30 visual artists, theatre makers, dancers and musicians from Taiwan, mostly never before seen in UK, exploring Taiwanese identity, post-colonial history, politics and desire, Coronet Theatre, 103 Notting Hill Gate, W8 7TA, until 27 April. Info: Festival

* 1884, immersive game-theatre experience inspired by the pivotal 1884 Berlin Conference in which European powers divided Africa between them, £20/ £15, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT, until 27 April. Info: Town Hall

* Test Match, explores and explodes the mythology of fair play as power, past and present collide in 18th century Calcutta and contemporary Britain, Orange Tree Theatre, 1 Clarence Street, Richmond, until 18 May. Info: Test Match

* Ruptured, multidisciplinary theatre piece exploring how migration affects familial relationships; the confusing mixture of cultural, generational, and language barriers which prevent us from understanding one another, with dance and poetry from Joanna Woźnicka, 9pm, £8 - £12, Camden People's Theatre, 58-60 Hampstead Road, NW1, until 24 April Info: CPT

from Saturday 27 April

* Multiple Casualty Incident, roleplay, desire and compassion revealing the limits of help, the beginnings of harm and the complexities of humanitarian work, Yard Theatre, Unit 21 Queens Yard, White Post Lane, E9 5EN until 8 June. Info: The Yard

TV and radio

Saturday 20 April

* Your Place Or Mine, chat about life in Dubai, 10am, Radio 4

Sunday 21 April

* Martin Clunes: Islands of the Pacific, 10.20pm, ITV1

Monday 22 April

* Martin Clunes: Islands of the Pacific, The Philippines, 9pm, ITV1

* The Invention of China, first of four episodes, 11am, Radio 4