Speaking for Ourselves

Events in London

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14/04/2025

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Monday 9 February

* The Struggle for Hong Kong: A Decolonisation Lens, Ching-Kwan Lee offers a new interpretation of popular protests in Hong Kong since 1997, when Britain handed back sovereignty to China, 1.30pm, King’s College, 150 Stamford Street SE1 9NH; 5pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street WC1

* A Picture of Migration, Alan Manning, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2

* Women’s Health Matters: Science, Systems and Global Change, Michelle A. Williams, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2

Tuesday 10 February

* Afghanistan: An American Catastrophe, Jon Lee Anderson and Saad Mohseni, Kiln Theatre, 269 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR. Info: Intelligence Squared

* Beyond medicine: Social protection and the fight against tuberculosis in Brazil, Davide Rasella and Priscila Scaff, 12.45 - 1.45pm, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, WC1E 7HT

* Online database launch: The Royal Institute of British Architecture Refugee Committee, Oliver Urquhart Irvine, Valeria Caullo, 6.30pm, The Wiener Holocaust Library, WC1B 5DP. Info: Library

Wednesday 11 February

* Peacebuilding through the Visual Arts, Jolyon Mitchell, 6pm, Gresham College, Barnard's Inn Hall, EC1N 2HH. Info: Gresham College

* The Last of Earth by Deepa Anappara, launch of historical novel about two outsiders who venture into the Forbidden Kingdom of Tibet, for reasons they are desperate to keep secret, 6.30 - 8.30pm, Waterstones, 1 Islington Green, N1 2XH. Info: Waterstones

* Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam, Faisal Devji, 5pm, King’s College, Strand Campus, WC2R 2LS

Thursday 12 February

* Afghanistan: Two Decades of War and Its Legacy, Jon Lee Anderson, Saima Mohsin and Saad Mohseni, 6.30pm, £16.80, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

Friday 13 February

* Celebrating 20 years of the Saif Ghobash Banipalk Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, winner Marilyn Booth in conversation + annual lecture, Boyd Tonkin on Republic of Letters or global bazaar: literary translation in the new millennium, 6 - 9pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street WC1H 0XG. Info: Prize meeting

Monday 16 February

* The global rise of the far right, Victor Mallet, Matthew Holehouse, Anna Gross, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

* Is China’s urban-rural income gap still relevant?, Terry Sicular, 5pm, SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG

* Immigration policy: challenges and options, Alan Manning, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC1

Tuesday 17 February

* The Price of Pixels: Unmasking the Environmental Impact of Our Digital Lives, 6pm, Ian Mudway, Gresham College, Barnard's Inn Hall, EC1N 2HH. Info: Gresham

* The World in 2026, Christine Amanpour, 7pm, from £19.99, Intelligence Squared, Emmanuel Centre, 9-23 Marsham Street, SW1P 3DW. Info: Intelligence Squared

* Book Talk: Lessons from the front, Robert Sherman - a rookie war correspondent in Ukraine and Israel, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1 QJ. Info: Frontline

* Deconstructing Refugee Women’s “Empowerment”, Zeynep Kilicoglu, 1 - 2pm, King’s College, Waterloo Bridge Wing SE1 9NH

Exhibitions

* Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, how post Second World War “Emergencies” , as they were termed by the UK, shaped Britain, its former territories and the modern world, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 29 March. Info: IWM

+ Exit wounds of Empire

* Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, a celebration of art and history, £14/ £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 25 May. Info: Hawai’i

* A Greenland shadow over a wonderful Hawai’i exhibition

* Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire & Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art, The Singh Twins examine the global mythologies of plants and the histories of Empire + Flora Indica – work by historical Indian botanical artists, admission with Kew entry fee, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens until 12 April

+ The Singh Twins light up the links between empire and botany

+ The Singh Twins spotlight Kew’s role in the business of Empire

* 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

* Nigerian Modernism, Nigerian artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TG until 10 May. Info: Tate

* A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle, artists who have shaped the trajectory of Indian Modernism, £17, Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly W1J until 24 February. Info: RA

* I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, examination of political dissent and erasure through the idea of collage, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Sunil Gupta, Qualeasha Wood, Jess Atieno, Sheida Soleimani, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 21 March. Info: Exhibition

* The Land Carries, work by three international artists: Ahmed Akasha (UK), Dina Nur Satti (US) and Yasmin Elnour (Bahrain) responding to material in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, 1 - 5pm, Petrie Museum, University College London, Malet Place, WC1E 6BT until 16 May. Info: Sudan exhibition

* 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

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

* Charlie Phillips - Somewhere, Somehow, work by the Jamaican immigrant who became one of Britain’s greatest photographers, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street W6 9BN until 9 March. Info: Riverside

* Tixinda, A Snail’s Purple, exhibition about a sea snail whose ink can be milked to produce a purple pigment known as Tyrian or Royal purple, by British-Mexican artist Melanie Smith and Patricio Villarreal Ávila, Peltz Gallery, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD, until 11 March. Info: Pellz

* Water Pantanal Fire, photography exhibition revealing the fragile beauty of the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland that sprawls across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, free, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2DD until 31 May. Info: Museum

from Wednesday 11 February

* To Survive To Witness, works by Gaza-based Palestinian artist Marwan Nassar created during the 2023-25 war in Gaza, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD until 13 March. Info: P21

Performance

* The Ophiolite, when Takis dies in Britain, a bitter feud erupts over where he should be buried. For his Cypriot family, ancient tradition must be respected; for his English wife, a promise he made in life is binding, Theatro Technis, 26 Crowndale Road, NW1 1TT until 29 February. Info: Theatro Technis

from Wednesday 11 February

* Far Gone, one-man performance tracing a boy’s journey from innocence to child soldier with the Lord’s Resistance Army, and survival, £22, Brixton House, 85 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8GL until 21 February. Info: Brixton House

* Borders: Digital, Political, Emotional, plays by Banu Senel, Salman Saddiqi, Erdogan Soyturk, Tamara von Werthern, Andrew Lawston, £15 - £20, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street E8 3DL, until 14 February. Info: Arcola

* Ukraine Unbroken, cycle of short plays by Ukrainian and British writers about courage, truth and survival in the face of tyranny, £15 - £39, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street E8 3DL until 28 March. Info: Arcola

Film

* The Voice of Hind Rajab, dramatisation of events in January 2024 when Red Crescent volunteers receive an urgent call: a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza begs for rescue, Picturehouse Ritzy; Vues Finchley Road, Fulham Broadway, Islington, Westfield Stratford City

* My Father’s Shadow, two brothers connect with their father in this drama set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election, Picturehouses Central, Ealing, Finsbury Park, Greenwich, Hackney, Ritzy, Vues Islington, Westfield Stratford City; Odeon Greenwich; Barbican, Castle, ICA; 13 - 19 February, National Film Theatre

+ A father’s shadow - and the shadow of a Nigerian coup

+ Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù: ’If the west doesn’t say a film is good, that doesn’t mean it’s no good’

* No Other Choice, a man’s desperation to secure a new job finds him exploring unique ways to eliminate his competitors, in South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s madcap thriller, cinemas all over town

* I’m Migrant Film Festival. Genesis Cinema. Programme includes 10 Feb, Sudan, Remember Us, from the frontline of a thwarted democracy movement

+ I’m Migrant Film Festival is back

* Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave, sexuality, identity and oppression explored with honesty, until 26 February. Programme includes 11 Feb, The Deer; 14 Feb, The Ballad of Tara; 17 Feb, The Journey + A Wedding Suit; 21 Feb, The Postman; 24 Feb, The Night It Rained + documentary shorts by Ebrahim Golestan; 25 Feb, Dancer of the City; 26 Feb, Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure. Info: Barbican

* All That’s Left of You, Palestinian American director Cherien Dabis takes us on an epic and poignant journey through a Palestinian family's 75-year history, BFI Southbank until 10 February; Cine Lumiere until 18 February; Vues Finchley Road, Fulham Broadway, Shepherd’s Bush, Westfield Stratford City; 13 - 19 February ICA

* The Secret Agent, political thriller about a former professor trying to flee persecution by Brazil’s military government, Picturehouses Central, Clapham, Crouch End, Ealing, East Dulwich, Finsbury Park, Gate, Greenwich, Hackney, Ritzy, West Norwood

Monday 9 February

* Philippines: Speak of the Devil, documentary about Catholic exorcisms, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

Wednesday 11 February

* Target Tehran, the 12-day attack on Iran by Israel and US attack on Iran in October 2025, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

* Multicultural TV on Channel 4, multicultural programming was built into Channel4 programming from the outset. A look at two of its earliest and biggest shows, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre

Thursday 12 February

* Myanmar: War With the Junta, documentary exposing atrocities by both sides and the ruling generals’ brutal tactics, including the forced conscription of vulnerable villagers and the torture of dissidents on military base + Q&A, 7pm, from £7.13, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline.

* The Voice of Hind Rajab, dramatisation of events in January 2024 when Red Crescent volunteers receive an urgent call: a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza begs for rescue + Q&A with director Kaouther Ben Hania, 8.30pm, Cine Lumiere

Friday 13 February

* Rendered in Light, Palestinian films + Q&A with Maria Marrone and Hala Sabbah from The Sameer Project, 6:30pm, £10, Kensington Central Library, 12 Fillimore Walk W8 7RX. Info: Health Workers 4 Palestine

from Friday 13 February

* The President’s Cake, despite hardships in 1990s Iraq, Saddam Hussein requires every school to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday. So 9-year-old Lamia must use her wits and imagination to gather ingredients for the cake or face the consequences, Cine Lumiere, ICA until 19 February

+ A girl, a boy, a rooster and a cake for Saddam

Saturday 14 February

* Multicultural TV on the BBC, to rival Channel 4 the BBC established its own multicultural units. Examples of its output is screened, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre

from Saturday 14 February

* Make it Look Real, a local photo studio in Pakistan serves as a vibrant cultural hub where personal dreams and community connections are brought to life through photography, Curzon Bloomsbury.

Monday 16 February

* Black Queer Lives in the Archive, Jason Okundaye discusses queer-focused media in the multicultural corpus, 6.20pm, National Film Theatre

Tuesday 17 February

* Last Days, Justin Ling’s portrait of a young missionary whose desire to spread the gospel in the remote North Sentinel Island, who have had no contact with the outside world, resulted in tragedy, 6pm, National Film Theatre