Offering different perspectives on race, gender, class and their intersections, the characters in Ayo Akingbade’s Tower XYZ (2016) wander thought London’s concrete jungle as the narrator reflects on the current state of the city and her imagined future whilst Rehana Zaman’s Sharla Shabana Sojourner Selena (2016) has female narrators recounting personal experiences and reflections around presence and visibility.
Commenting on the political structures that perpetuate racial and social inequality, Farai’s This Is England (2018) music video laments on the harsh outcomes of decisions made by those in positions of power. A contemporary lament on the harsh realities of arriving to the Motherland from the African diaspora.
Nadeem Din-Gabisi’s blk boy flight (me & my cousins) (2015) depicts young black boys, innocent, carefree and playing whilst Caleb Femi’s Coping (2018) fast-forwards to the challenges of racialised hypervisibility faced by black men whilst also commenting on and portraying a soft black masculinity in a way that humanises and gives way to conversations around mental health.
BIOGRAPHIES
Ayo Akingbade
Ayo Akingbade is an artist and film director based in London. Her film 'Tower XYZ' (2016) received a Special Mention Award at International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and won the inaugural Sonja Savic Award at Alternative Film/Video Festival, Belgrade. Akingbade has since produced three new films. 'Street 66' (2018) which premiered at International Film Festival Rotterdam and 'A is for Artist' (2018) which premiered in the Experimenta strand at BFI London Film Festival. 'Dear Babylon' (2019) will complete the social housing trilogy and is due to premiere in mid 2019. She is a recipient of the Sundance Ignite Fellowship (2018) and exhibited in Bloomberg New Contemporaries (2018). Ayo is a graduate of London College of Communication and is currently studying at Royal Academy Schools.
Caleb Femi
Caleb Femi is a poet and director who has been featured in the Dazed 100 list of the next generation shaping youth culture. Using film, photography and music, he pushes the boundaries of poetry on the page, in performance and on digital mediums. He was Young People’s Laureate for London 2016-18.
Farai
Farai’s debut album - a collaborative project between London based vocalist Farai Bukowski-Bouquet and musician & producer TONE - via Big Dada, documents a process of recovery. ‘Rebirth’ weaves together South East London landmarks, the bare-bones ethos of post-punk, and the experience of being part of the African diaspora, continuing the themes of their 2017 debut EP, ‘Kisswell’ (NON
Worldwide). The lyrics of eponymous vocalist, Farai, are coloured by the different cities she’s lived in, including London. Having met TONE via Shop Floor Sessions, recording and writing followed in Hackney, Lewisham and a shared studio with Mica Levi aka Micachu. TONE laid down synthesisers and guitar to Farai's poetry and drums were recorded with Marc Pell from Micachu & The Shapes. The result is Farai’s alternative vision of pop; distinctive and many-sided at once, poised between punk directness and flourishes of soulful warmth.
Nadeem Din-Gabisi
Studios resident Nadeem Din-Gabisi is a visual and sound artist, DJ and poet. His work is centred around the re-presentation of the Black image, pertaining to people of African Descent and the limitlessness of what it means to be Black, other and more than that. His practice has been influenced by many years of work as a youth and play worker. Nadeem has recently completed his Masters in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art, performs regularly as part of the musical phenomenon Steam Down, and currently hosts a monthly radio show on NTS Radio. Nadeem has recently been collaborating with fellow artist Hadiru Mahdi at the George Padmore institute to realise an artistic response to their archive.
Rehana Zaman
Rehana Zaman (b 1982, Heckmondwike UK) is based in London, working with moving image and performance. Her work considers the interplay of multiple social dynamics that constitute subjects along particular socio-political formations. These narrative based pieces, often deadpan and neurotic, are frequently generated through conversation and collaboration with others.
She holds a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London and completed her MFA in Fine Art at the same place in 2011.
Rehana was awarded the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2017; a British Council research grant with Museo de Art Carrillo Gil, Mexico City in 2015 and a Gasworks International Fellowship to Beirut in 2013. Zaman was a LUX Associate Artist in 2012/2013. She is a lecturer on the BA Fine Art programme at Goldsmiths, University of London.