Speaking for Ourselves

Events in London

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14/04/2025

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Monday 19 May

* Provocations on the ongoing crisis in Israel/Palestine, Antony Loewenstein, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

Tuesday 20 May

* Bangladesh - The July Uprising, 20-minute documentary + discussion

7 - 8:30pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

* The Age of the Strongman: Understanding Xi, Rana Mitter and Gideon Rachman, 7pm, £31.99-£41.99, Smith Square Hall, SW1P 3HA. Info: Intelligence Squared

* Decolonisation in the Age of AI, Christoffer Guldberg, Mireille Kouyo, 3.30-6pm online. Info: King’s College

Wednesday 21 May

* Unmasking Neoliberalism, George Monbiot in conversation with Afua Hirsch, 7-8.45pm, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

Thursday 22 May

* Muslims Don’t Matter: Sayeeda Warsi in Conversation, on the rise of Islamophobia in Britain, 6.15-7.30pm, £16.90, The Conduit, 6 Langley Street, WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

* Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, Elaine Chase, Amina Meshnuni and Abdullahi Yussuf, 5-7pm, Coram Campus, 41 Brunswick Square, WC1N 1AZ. Info: Info: Coram

* Net migration is coming down – what happens next?, Sunder Katwala, Christabel Cooper, Marley Morris and Will Prescott, 1-2pm, online. Info: Discussion

* Borderless Africa, book launch with Francis Mangeni & Andrew Mold, 5-7pm, SOAS University of London, 10 Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG.Info: Royal African Society

* What is Free Speech?, historians William Dalrymple and Fara Dabhoiwala explore the history and evolution of free expression, 1-2.15pm, £16.90, The Conduit, Langley Street, WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

* Geo-economic Contestation over Southeast Asia in the era of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, Evelyn Goh, Henry Wai-chung Yeung, Selina Ho, Alvin Camba, 9am-5.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2.

Friday 23 May

* The Royal Africa Society & Gay Times, Lord Oates, Nwora Emenike and others, 6-9pm, SOAS University of London, 10 Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG. Info: RAS

Exhibitions

* 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

* Between Two Worlds: Vanley Burke and Francis Williams, two Jamaican scholars’ portraits, shedding light on a 1745 painting, identity and colonial legacies, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: Exhibition

* 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

* Deutsche Borse Foundation Photography Prize, shortlist includes work by Lindokhule Sobekwa on poverty and long effects of apartheid in South Africa, and Tarah Krajnak, Peru, £10/£7, Photographers Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1, until 15 June. Info: Gallery

* Planetary Portals: I am in your dreams, but you are not in mine, weaves together the environmental landscapes of 19th-century mining of gold and diamonds in South Africa with the scripting process of AI, £10/£7, Photographers Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1, until 15 June. Info: Gallery

* Arpita Singh: Remembering, her first solo exhibition outside India, she draws from Bengali folk art and Indian stories, interwoven with experiences of social upheaval and global conflict, free, Serpentine North, until 27 July

* '(Un)Layering the Future Past of South Asia: Young Artists’ Voices, 26 emerging artists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal look at the history, memory, and identity of South Asia through a decolonial lens, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1 until 21 June. Info: SOAS

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

* Gaza Remains The Story, a production by Palestinian Museum on "the cause and context of the Palestinian experience, focusing on the land, places, and people of Gaza”, P212 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD, until 20 May. Info: P21

from Thursday 22 May

* 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

Film

* The Wedding Banquet, a gay man and a lesbian friend arrange a green-card marriage and in vitro fertilization treatments but a grandmother surprises them with a Korean wedding banquet, Cineworlds Leicester Square Wandsworth, Wood Green; Clpaham Picturehouse; Odeons Luxe Haymarket, Holloway

* An Unfinished Film, in January 2020 a film crew reunites near Wuhan to resume the shooting of a film halted 10 years earlier, only to share the unexpected challenges as Chinese cities are placed under lockdown, Odeon Luxe Haymarket, ICA

* In Focus: Fatimeh Motamed-Arya, eight films featuring the award-winning Iranian film and stage actress, ICA, until 1 June. Info: ICA

Monday 19 May

* Marching In The Dark, In the midst of India’s farmer suicide crisis, a young widow joins a women’s support group and embarks on a transformative journey of discovery, Curzon Bloomsbury

* Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat, fascinating, wide-ranging documentary about Africa and the Cold War, focussing on Patrice Lumumba’s murder in Congo, Lexi +21 May

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

Tuesday 20 May

* Life and Death in Gaza, follows four Gazans during the first year of the war + discussion with director Natasha Cox, Khaled Dawas & Manal Massalha, 6.45pm, Castle cinema

from Tuesday 20 May

* Bury Us In A Lone Desert, a burglar and the owner of a house he attempts to rob journey across Vietnam to the homeowner’s wife’s grave where he wishes to join her, ICA until 22 May

Wednesday 21 May

* The Things We Don’t Say, documentary about a Rwandan therapist and genocide survivor helping a group of people conceived through rape deal with their secrets and struggles + discussion, 7-8.30pm online. Info: Counterpoint Arts

from Thursday 22 May

* Fashion in Film Festival, programme includes 22 May, Colonial threads, three films by artists, 7pm; 28 May, The Magino Village Story: Raising Silkworms; Barbican Centre, until 30 May

from Friday 23 May

* Mongrel, an undocumented Thai immigrant working in a remote area of Taiwan as a caregiver to the elderly and disabled in the face of enduring hardship must choose between survival and dignity, ICA until 29 May

from Saturday 24 May

* Caught By The Tides, ambitious docufiction about China suspended in time by the Covid outbreak, Curzon Bloomsbury, ICA

Performance

* Scenes From A Repatriation, Joel Tan’s shape-shifting play unfolds a 1,000-year-old statue from China to Britain and back again, stirring up centuries of ghosts and raising the question of who can claim cultural artefacts – and why, £15-£30, Royal Court, Sloane Square, until 24 May. Info: Royal Court

* Insane Asylum Seekers, a British-Iraqi playwright and screenwriter who is also the founder of the British-Arab Writers Group, a collective of over 200 British-Arab writers, explores the complexities of the British-Iraqi refugee experience; previews £15, from 14 May £20, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road W12 8LJ until 7 June. Info: Bush

* Little Brother, the true story of Ibrahima Balde's journey from West Africa to Europe in an attempt to find his missing brother, £20-£35, Jermyn Street Theatre, 16b Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6ST until 21 June. Info; Jermyn Street Theatre

+ 5 June, Royal Society of Literature post-show conversation, Gabriel Gbadamosi and Timberlake Wertenbaker, free

* The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, scandalous, engrossing tale of sexual politics and family strife in modern-day Nigeria, adapted from Lola Shoneyin’s novel, £12-£39, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street, E8 3DKL until 31 May. Info: Arcola

Friday 24 May

* Stand-up Comedy: New Voices, acts include Yasmeen Audisho Ghrawi + post-show discussion on how comedy can support mental health and wellbeing, 7pm, pay what you can, Hoxton Hall, 130 Hoxton Street, N1 6SH. Info; No Direction Home