Hello! 👋 It’s been a minute but I’ve finally had time to commit to paper some of my highlights from the last month all of which are too good not to share.
WATCH
Music documentaries are truly my jam. I went down one such rabbit hole several months ago and an evening of Studio 54, I Was There When House Music Took Over The World and Soul Skate 2018 ensued (all of which I’d highly recommend) so the excitement was real when I heard about Summer of Soul (…or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
The film produced and directed by Questlove, is an account of the Harlem Cultural Festival, a community-focused series of events that took place over several summer weekends in 1969. The incredible roster of musicians included a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and Nina Simone amongst others. It’s really thanks to the weight of these names that ‘the Black Woodstock’, as it was referred to colloquially, was committed to film in the first place. Unfortunately, the predominantly African American audience and proximity to (the actual) Woodstock held that same year, led to the recordings receiving no interest from television networks. The tapes were ultimately shelved and gathered dust for over 50 years before being rediscovered.
What made this docu a stand out for me was the layered approach to the cultural and historical contextualisation. In a style that kind of reminds me of the 1977 Eames classic Powers of Ten, the film first assesses the major global events that contributed to the conception of the festival before zeroing in on Harlem itself, the African American and Puerto Rican communities that made it their home and the synergy between their ancestral musical histories. There’s also a detour into the cultural significance of the dominant genres that were represented on the festival stage supported by accounts from attendees and those that performed. It’s solid and well rounded 5 stars and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
VISIT
The 6th August marks 10 years since the 2011 England riots. Sparked by the police killing of Mark Duggan they spread from London to several other major cities in the UK. The ensuing civil unrest dwarfed even that of the Brixton Riots of 1981 whilst highlighting the continued disenfranchisement and discrimination that exists on the race and class axis.
War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights opened earlier this month at the ICA. The show traces over 70 years of collective action and resistance by Black communities in the UK in response to social and institutional racism. It culminates in the presentation of extensive research into the shooting of Mark Duggan by Turner Prize nominated research agency Forensic Architecture. Despite the wealth of new evidence generated by the study, the Independent Office of Police Complaints ruled against reopening the original investigation earlier this year.
If you’re not able to visit, the Forensic Architecture report and video can also be accessed via their website here. Some of the pivotal moments of resistance highlighted in the exhibition, in particular the Brixton Riots and New Cross Fire, have also been explored in detail by Steve McQueen in his latest mini-series Uprising available on BBC IPlayer now.
In many ways, the 2011 riots were the genesis for anti-establishment organising online. They highlighted the immense potential of social media to significantly influence both whole communities and targeted demographics; a topic addressed by Up:Rise, a new UK wide outdoor augmented reality exhibition by artist-filmmaker Baff Akoto. Artworks are accessible via billboards located at sites key to the riots from 6th August.
WATCH
I was lucky enough to experience a live and performance infused presentation of Black Corporeal (Between This Air) by artist and poet Julianknxx earlier this month at the Whitechapel Gallery.
This incredible short commissioned by WePresent is a dialogue between the notion of breath and its relationship to Black bodies. Though its release can be perceived as timely following continued conversations around the constriction of Black bodies as a result of the race protests in 2019, its inception actually began with a poem written in 2016 in response to the murder of Eric Garner.
An edit of the film can be viewed above and there’s also a great interview about the piece via the button below. Julianknxx is the artist in residence at 180 The Strand where he will be showing later in the autumn. His work will also be included in the London Open in 2022.
I’m Listening To…
I’ve been adding to this playlist of electronically infused R&B and soul tunes for the last year. The mood is chilled but with a lowkey shoulder groove so great for pre-drinks and park hangouts.
Magda xxx