Events in London

Events in London

Talks and discussions

Wednesday 8 May

* ‘Simply Being Gay’ and ‘Gaming the System’: a look at some myths for LGBTQI+ refugees, David Chirico, Ayesha Aziz, Moud Goba, 6-8pm, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street, WC1. Info:  SOAS  

*  An African History of Africa, Zeinab Badawi on her new book, 7-8.30pm, from £16.62, The Tabernacle, 34-35 Powis Square,  W11 2AY. Info:  Eventbrite

Thursday 9 May

* Third Annual Challenging Racisms Conference - An Intersectional Approach, Dibyesh Anand, Deborah Husbands, Lisa-Dionne Morris, Matthew Linfoot, Chine McDonald,  Michael Pollak, Memoona Khan, Sobia Razzaq, Jenny Garrett, Muneera Pilgrim, Dianne Greyson, Claire Robertson, Harriet Haroon, Thomas Moore, Viven Rao, Dawn Bonfiel explore the complex intersections of race, identity, and social justice, 9am-5pm, University of Westminster, 4–12 Little Titchfield Street, W1W 7BY. Info: UoW

* South Africa’s elections, Adam Habib, Nicole Fritz, Zukile Majova, 6-7.15pm, £16.80, The Conduit, WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit

* Conflict, Andrew Roberts and Tom Holland explore what the last 70 years of conflict tell us about the decades ahead, 6.45pm, £16.80, St James Church, EC1. Info: Events

* Annual Architecture Lecture, Bijoy Jain, founder of Studio Mumbai, makes the case for the interconnection of people, place and material, 6.30-8pm, £20/£12 in-person or £8/£5 online, Royal Academy, Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens or livestream. Info:  RA

* Applying the lessons from international disaster response to domestic major incidents, David O’Neill, Patrick McKay, Komal Aryal, 2-3pm online, free Info:  Royal Geographical Society 

* Confronting disparities in humanitarian responses: Lessons from Nigeria, John Bryant and Ahmad Jumare, 8-9am online. Info:  Overseas Development Institute

* Protection and the HDP nexus: working in complementarity across humanitarian and peace action for violence reduction, Gemma Davies, Marc Linning, Mike Jobbins, 3-4.30pm online. Info: Overseas Development Institute

* Paid to Care: Domestic Workers in Contemporary Latin American Culture, Geoffrey Kantaris, Rachel Randall, Sonia Roncador, María Julia Rossi, 5:30-7pm online. Info:  SAS

* The Unfinished Quest: India’s search for major power status from Nehru to Modi, T V Paul, Anit Mukherjee, 5-6.30pm, King’s College, 30 Aldwych, WC2B 4BG

Monday 13 May

* Solidarity Ukraine-Gaza, Ed Vulliamy, 7pm, £15/ £10, Frontline Club, 3 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline

* Good Britain, Andrew Mitchell MP on international development, 6.30pm, Hanover, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, SE1 9HA. Info: Bright Blue

* New Writings: Decolonising the Exotic Gaze in World Cinema, Daniela Berghahn on her new book, Exotic Cinema, which looks at the role of exoticism and the inherent problems faced by it, 6.30pm, £6.50, BFI Southbank

Monday 13-Tuesday 14 May

* Transnational Elites: Imperial Histories, Global Power and Public Resistance Today, Sarah Kunz, Mike Savage, Katie Higgins, Aaron Reeves, Pere Ayling, Annette Lareau, Jorge Atria, Parul Bhandari, Brooke Harrington, Katie Higgins, Kimberley Hoang, Sarah Kunz, Shamus Khan, Hanna Kuusela, Maria Luisa Méndez, Annalena Oppel, John Osburg, Ujithra Ponniah, Leonard Seabrooke, Denisse Sepúlveda, Miguel Serna, in-person: £40/ £20 day, online £10/ £6 day, Royal Society, Carlton House Terrace, SW1. Info: conferences@thebritishacademy.ac.uk/ Royal Society

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

* 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

* 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

* 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

* 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

* 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

+ The music that changed Britain

* We Are Not Numbers, bringing Voices of Palestine to London, P21 Gallery, 21 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD,  until 11 May. Info: P21 

from Thursday 9 May

* Ties that Bind: Reflections on Black life, surviving hostile environments, and Mental Health Gallery, mixed-media exhibition based on data collected for a project exploring the intergenerational and mental health consequences of the Windrush scandal on Caribbean and African families and the wider Black community, Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, SW2, until 9 June. Info:  BCA
 

Film

* Tongues on Fire: UK Asian Film Festival. Programme includes 7 May, Country of Blind, a mountaineer finds himself in a valley of blind people, 8 May, Snow Leopard, traditional values versus modernity in Tibet; Baby Crasto, gamblers, robbers, hookers and confusion; 10 May, Other Kohinoors, The Rocks of Hyderabad, documentary love-letter; 11 May, Lord Curzon Ki Haveli, an apparent dinner joke in London changes lives forever; Kuch Sapney Apne, a loving gay Mumbai couple and other family relationships. Plus shorts, Q&As and other sessions. Until 12 May. Info: https://www.tonguesonfire.com/

* Nezhou,  “a dreamy picture of life under siege. Delicately weaving lightness and magical realism among heart-breaking desolation, Soudade Kaadan’s Venice Film Festival award-winner offers a powerful and moving perspective on the Syrian conflict.” Curzon Camden, ICA, The Castle + 7 May Q&A; from 17 May Ciné Lumière + 21 May, Q&A  with director Soudade Kaadan

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

* Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano, Mounia Akl is working on her debut feature film in Beirut in August 2020 when the catastrophic port explosion ravages the city. The team must choose between fighting for their project or surrendering to the devastation of their surroundings, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 9 May

 + Like making a movie on the Titanic

* Leila and the Wolves, 1984 film that reveals a hidden past of women’s struggle in Palestine and Lebanon in an attempt to rewrite the history of the region from a feminist point of view, ICA, The Mall, until 9 May

Monday 6, Wednesday 8 May

* Cumpleañero, Panamanian film in which Jimmy celebrates his 45th birthday at the beach house, inviting his close circle of friends to a weekend full of fun, excess, and concessions. Everything is interrupted by Jimmy's confession of wanting to end his life before the party is over + Zoom Q&A with director Arturo Montenegro, 8pm, Garden cinema + 8 May, 3.15pm

* Our Mothers, a Guatemalan anthropologist tasked with identifying the bones of victims of the 1980s military government thinks he has found a lead that might guide him to his father, a 'guerrillero' who went missing during the war. Meanwhile, his mother Cristina is about to testify at the trial of former soldiers who took part in the genocide + Q&A with director Cesar Diaz, 8pm, Garden cinema

Thursday 9 May

* The Soil and the Sea, in Lebanon there are more than 100 untouched graves dating back to the civil war. The film unveils the violence lying beneath the landscapes, with voices telling the erased stories + Q&A with director Daniele Rugo, Ramzi Kaiss and Lina Khatib, 6.20pm, £12.50/£10, Curzon Bloomsbury

Friday 10 May

*  The Moon Stirs the Waters: Stories of Seas, Songs and Souls from Central America,  experimental short film programme, 8pm, Garden cinema

from Friday 10 May

* Mambar Pierrette, absorbing portrait of the daily life of aDouala dressmaker, ICA, The Mall, until 16 May

+  The Douala seamstress who’s the real action hero

Saturday 11 May

* Bushman, restored drama about the collision of cultures as a young Nigerian encounters 1960s California counterculture + intro with Tomisin Adepeju, 2pm, £6.50, BFI Southbank

Monday 13 May

* Clara Sola, haunting tale of mysticism and sexual awakening set in the lush jungle of Costa Rica + Zoom Q&A with director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, 6.30pm, Garden cinema + 22 May, 3.15pm

Performance

* 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 1 June. Info: Garrick

* English Kings Killing Foreigners, from rehearsal room microaggressions to the battlefields of France, into the bureaucracy of applying for citizenship, Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti explore their histories alongside England's own as unwilling actors in a national story, Camden People's Theatre, 58-60 Hampstead Road, NW1 until  11 May. Info: CPT

* 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

+ India v England: time to dismantle some of the rules?

* 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

+  Spotlight on the motives of Western aid workers

* Dugsi Dayz, Sabrina Ali’s comedy in which four young British-Somali girls are stuck in detention at mosque when a power cut hits: the girls retell Somali folktales to break the ice, discovering parallels that may just lead to friendship, Royal Court, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS until 18 May. Info: Royal Court

+ Oh my dayz: by Somali women, for everyone

* Peckham Fringe, programme includes 10 May, No, but … where are you really from?; 10-11 May, Barrier to Entry; 25 May, The Windrush Warriors, Theatre Peckham, 221 Havil Street, SE5 7SB. Until 8 June. Info: https://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk/shows-events

TV and radio

Saturday 4 May

* Michael Palin in Nigeria, anodyne travelogue, 7pm, Channel 5

* Your Place Or Mine, the  travel programme makes the case for Rio de Janeiro, 10am, Radio 4

* This Cultural Life, interview with photographer Sebastiao Salgado, 7.15pm, Radio 4

Sunday 5 May

* Martin Clunes: Islands of the Pacific, 11pm, ITV1

* The invention of China, historical (up to modern times) series,11am, Radio 4

Monday 6 May

* Name Me Lawand, fascinating documentary about a deaf Kurdish boy  whose parents bring him to England for better treatment, and, surprisingly, it’s not all plain sailing, 1.10am, Channel 4

+  A deaf migrant’s journey from isolation into language

* The invention of China, historical (up to modern times) series, 11am, Radio 4

Tuesday 7 May

* Salman Rushdie: Through A Glass Darkly, the writer talks about the knife attack on his life, midnight5, BBC  2

* The Satanic Verses: 30 Years On, 10pm, BBC 4

* The Other War, report from the occupied West Bank, 11.15pm, BBC 2

Friday 10 May

* Unreported World, divorce in Mauritania, 7.30pm, Channel 4

* Sue Perkins: Lost in Thailand, travelogue, 9pm, Channel 5

* Salman Rushdie: Through A Glass Darkly, the writer talks about the knife attack on his life, midnight5, BBC2

 Thanks to volunteer Daniel Nelson (editor of Eventslondon.org) for compiling this list.