After Illusions: Habitable Futures
In a world marked by ecological collapse, imperial afterlives and social fragmentation, what does a liveable future look like? The final talk of the three-part series, responding to Tai Shani: The Spell or The Dream.
This is an 18+ event.
| Dates | Tue 02 Sep 2025 |
| Times | 6.30pm-9pm |
| Space | Lancaster Rooms, New Wing |
| Price | £10/£8 |
In a time of crisis and division, what do we imagine as a habitable future? The current state is one of collective reckoning with the impact of centuries of imperialism, ecological devastation and new forms of dehumanisation. From where do we draw our knowledge and inspiration to push against this prevailing destruction? The event invites speakers to debate the urgent reshaping of our future from their perspectives as land workers, activists, thinkers and artists.
Speakers
- Archaeologist and Author David Wengrow
- Poet and Activist Scholar Nat Raha
- Writer and Sustainability Consultant Aja Barber
- Writer and Communicator Yali Banton-Heath
Hosted by broadcaster and academic Dalia Gebrial.
Biographies
David Wengrow
David Wengrow FSA is Professor of Comparative Archaeology at University College London. His research focuses on the fundamental questions of human history and culture, social change, and inequality. He is co-author of The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (2021), which was a finalist for The Orwell Prize for political writing, and winner of the 20th Wenjin Book Award.
Dr Nat Raha
Dr Nat Raha is a poet and activist-scholar. She is the author of four books of poetry, including apparitions (nines) (Nightboat Books, 2024) and of sirens, body & faultlines (Boiler House Press, 2018). With Mijke van der Drift, Nat is co-author of Trans Femme Futures: Abolitionist Ethics for Transfeminist Worlds (Pluto Press, 2024) and co-editor of Radical Transfeminism zine.
Nat’s poetry is anthologised in 100 Queer Poems, We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, and Versus Versus. Recent critical writing appears in Social Text, Queer Print in Europe, Transgender Marxism, Gestures: A Body of Work and Third Text. Performance work includes epistolary (on carceral islands), co-commissioned by Edinburgh Art Festival, Scotland and TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, Galway, Ireland, 2023.
Nat has been active in numerous collectives over the past 15 years, including in queer and trans mutual aid, healthcare, and anti-austerity groups. She teaches in Fine Art Critical Studies at the Glasgow School of Art.
Aja Barber
Aja Barber is a writer, sustainability consultant, and activist who promotes ethical consumerism and warns against the environmental impact of fashion, especially fast fashion. Barber advocates for ethical and sustainable fashion and fair treatment of garment workers within the fashion industry.
Yali Banton-Heath
Yali works for the Landworkers' Alliance, a grassroots union of farmers, foresters and land-based workers and the UK member organisation of the global peasant movement La Via Campesina. She is a writer and a communicator whose work advocates for land justice, agroecology and food sovereignty, and whose writing has been published by outlets including Novara Media, Tribune and New Internationalist.
Dalia Gebrial
Dalia Gebrial is a writer and academic whose work explores race, capitalism, migration and power – with particular interest in how global economic and political systems produce and manage inequality. She is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Geography at King’s College London, a contributing presenter at Novara Media and a Director at Planet B Productions. Her media commentary work spans a range of outlets – including The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, Vice, BBC Radio 4, BBC Politics Live, LBC, and BBC World Service. Her most recent book is a co-authored publication entitled ‘Empire’s Endgame: Racism and the British State’, and her most recent documentary feature is ‘Boomerang: How the Legacies of Empire are Breaking Britain Today’.
Part of The Spell or The Dream, a major new commission by Somerset House Studios artist Tai Shani. Centered around a striking new sculpture for the Somerset House courtyard, this multifaceted work includes a 24/7 radio broadcast, live talks and performances, and an extensive family programme, inviting a host of guest contributors to collectively dream of possible futures.