Speaking for Ourselves

Events in London

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14/04/2025

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Monday 11 August

* Anti-fascism and Anti-racism in 1970s Britain and Beyond,

interactive online workshop 12-1pm, online. Info: Wiener Holocaust Library

Exhibitions

* Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict, exhibits include sexual slavery of ‘Comfort Women Corps’ in World War Two and of Yazidi women and girls by ISIS in 2014, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 2 November. Info: War Museum

+ Sexual violence in conflict: ‘The cheapest weapon known to man’

* Thirst: In Search of Freshwater, from ancient Mesopotamia and Victorian London to modern-day Nepal and Singapore, the exhibition combines art, science, history, technology and indigenous knowledge to deepen understanding of our relationships with freshwater, free, Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 1 February. Info: Wellcome

+ Thirst: an exhibition bridge over troubled water

* Ancient India: living traditions, the origins of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sacred art in the nature spirits of ancient India – and how they live on 2,000 years later, from £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 19 October. Info: Museum

+ Starring role for snakes in Ancient India exhibition

* Earth Photo 2025 exhibition, Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore, SW7 2AR. until 20 August. Info: RGS

* Mumbai + London: new perspectives on the ancient world, small exhibit focussed on Greek god Dionysius and India’s Vishnu, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 11 January 2026. Info: Exhibition

* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide

* Jose Maria Valasco: A View of Mexico, first UK show of work by the Mexican artist, from £12, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square WC2N 5DN until 17 August. Info: Gallery

* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum

* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888

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

* African Deeds, showcases a collection that includes diaries, cassette interviews, videos, photos and documents of three generations of family history, inspired by grandfather Thomas’ land title deeds brought from West Africa in 1901, Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, SW2 1EF. Info: BCA

* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre

* Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, free, Serpentine North, until 28 September. Info: Serpentine

* Women of the World Unite: the United Nations decade for women and transnational feminisms 1975 to now, Celebrate International Women’s Day weekend with a discussion of the representation of Black women in All About Love. London School of Economics Library, Houghton Street, WC2 until 22 August. Info: LSE

* Making Egypt, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, £10, Young V&A, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA. Info: V&A

* Eileen Perrier: A Thousand Small Stories and Dianne Minnicucci: Belonging and Beyond, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA, until 13 September. Info: Rivington Place

* Ghazaleh Avarzamani and Ali Ahadi: Freudian Typo, photography, sculpture, video work and found objects by two Iranian-Canadian artists which playfully critique Britain’s imperial past and how it manifests today, tracing connections between historical sources and current events in politics and finance, free, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre until 31 August. Info: Hayward

* Said Dicko: Tracing Shadows, the multimedia artist from Burkina Faso paints over his prints to create unique work, free, Photographers Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LW until 7 September. Info: tpg.org.uk

* 0710 Journeys, Wayne Campbell’s photographs of Gaza protests in Britain and the everyday landscape of the occupied West Bank, £5, P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street NW1 1JD until 5 September. Info: P21

* Wellcome Photography Prize, top 25 entries from categories including health problems in South Africa and climate change, free, Wednesdays–Saturdays, Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, NW1 1AT until 18 October. Info: Exhibition

* Virtual Beauty, exploring the impact of digital culture and technologies on the traditional definitions of beauty today, pay what you can, Somerset House, Strand, WC2R 1LA until 28 September. Info: Somerset House

* More Than Human, how design can help the planet thrive by shifting its focus beyond human needs, £14.38 students £5, Design Museum, 224-238 Kensington High Street W8 6AG, until 5 October. Info; Design Museum

* Imaging Peace, outdoor exhibition featuring global community peace photography projects, part of ‘Lost & Found: Stories of sanctuary and belonging’, a free programme of arts and ideas at King’s College, Strand, WC2R 2LS. Info: Peace exhibition

Film

* A State of Passion, powerful account of a British-Palestinian surgeon who has become a vital witness to the devastation wreaked by Israel’s bombing of Gaza,.Curzon Bloomsbury until 13 August

* Viet and Nam, two miners form a bond until one decides to leave with a people smuggler, ICA, until 14 August

* South Asian Heritage Month, includes 15 August, A River Called Titas; 17 August, Nidhanaya; Garden Cinema

Tuesday 12 August

* London Boys, behind the loud and intimidating motorcycles of the "Bangladeshi Bad Boys" is a group of second-generation Bangladeshi men who find in their bikes a sense of identity and a way to overcome racism + + post-screening Q&A/music, 6.30pm, £13.75, Castle Cinema

* Rising Up At Night, Kinshasa, D R Congo's capital city of 17 million people, is plunged into darkness and insecurity as its inhabitants struggle to access the light, Curzon Bloomsbury

+ ‘Kinshasa does not fall sleep, it is in perpetual resilience’

* Ireke: Rise of the Maroons, slaves transported from Africa to a plantation in Jamaica rise up against their cruel owner in this historical drama, Vue Westfield Stratford City

Thursday 14 August

* Carandiru, Drauzio Varella, a doctor, is treating prisoners in an overcrowded prison in Brazil. While doing so, he learns about their stories, 7pm, Lexi, part of Brazilian Summer Nights season

from Friday 15 August

* Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy, intimate portrait of young textile workers in Zhili, a factory town 150km from Shanghai, ICA, The Mall until 17 August

Saturday 16 August

* 2046, Wong Kar-wai's visionary follow-up to In the Mood for Love. The screening explores how futuristic aesthetics and themes of displacement resonate with contemporary Asian diasporic experiences, 3.30pm, Garden cinema

* The Cinema of Qiu Miao-jin, screening honouring a trailblazer in Taiwanese queer literature, marking 30 years since her death + Zoom talk with Evans Chan, 2pm, Barbican Centre

Sunday 17 August

* Central Station, a retired school teacher and young boy become unlikely travelling companions when the boy is suddenly orphaned and must find his estranged father, 5.15pm, Lexi + 21, 23, 24, 27 August, part of Brazilian Summer Nights season

* Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, megalith of a documentary teases out the complex, sordid details of Congo's liberation from Belgian colonial rule in 1960, through to the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba months later, 3pm, Curzon Bloomsbury

+ Congo, colonialism, conflict, Cold War and all that jazz

Performance

* The Estate, the opposition leader has been forced to resign in a scandal. Against the odds and Angad Singh emerges as the favourite — if his sisters keep their mouths shut, in Shaan Sahota’s debut play, National Theatre, South Bank SE1 9PX until 23 August. Info: National

* The Camden Fringe, over 400 shows, the London alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe. Programme includes 11-12 August, The White Lotus, reimagine Chinese theatre. Borough of Camden until 24 August. Info: https://camdenfringe.com