Cashmere Hip Hop Straight from the Swet Shop

by Lamisse Hamouda  An American Hindu-Punjabi rapper from Queens drawls, “Insha’allah / masha’allah / No martial law / hai allah / yo yallah”. Never had I experienced such visceral sense of familiarity in listening to music until I was blasted with these lines from “T5”, the opening track off Swet Shop Boys’ debut album Cashmere.… Read More

The War on Terror in Clay

Exhibition Review: “Stuff Happens” – May Ayres by Hamja Ahsan  Theresa May gave her first obligatory Eid address as Prime Minister this month to Muslims living in Britain and worldwide. In the broadcast, she spoke of the “spirit of togetherness” and “the way people are brought together with those around the world through the strong… Read More

Human language, human emotions: interview with the RSC’s Natalie Simpson

“What will the future hold when someone who hasn’t been brought up ‘correctly’ takes over?” by Kelly Kanayama  This is Part 2 of a two-part interview series with actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company. (Part 1 with King Lear‘s Clarence Smith is here.) I spoke to Natalie Simpson, who recently played Ophelia in Hamlet and is currently playing Cordelia in… Read More

Sustaining yourself as an actor of colour: interview with the RSC’s Clarence Smith

“Playing any Shakespeare character when you are black…always challenges the idea of what is acceptable” by Kelly Kanayama  This two-part interview series came about after the Royal Shakespeare Company offered us the chance to speak with their actors about their work. I started out by chatting to Clarence Smith, a veteran of stage, film and TV who plays… Read More

Retelling indigenous histories through dance: interview with Jasmin Sheppard

by Suzy Wrong Three separate works are featured in Bangarra Dance Theatre’s new show, OUR: Land People Stories, each with a distinct flavour but unified by discipline, culture and history. Independently striking in style, they tell different stories of the Indigenous experience through the medium of dance at its most progressive and adventurous. The first… Read More

Book list for black girls II: reflections of identity, by authors of colour

by Christina Fonthes  Almost three years ago I wrote an article on the lack of books for black girls – the response was overwhelming. What began as a personal endeavour (finding books for my sister) soon sparked a public discourse on the state of children’s (and adult) literature in the UK. Responses and comments came… Read More

Interview: Black Art in Focus

by Jagdish Patel  The Black Art in Focus exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery brings together paintings and prints from a number of important Black artists from the past 30 years showing us the range of artistic techniques, styles, ideas and themes which have been present in the work of Black British artists over this time.… Read More

Bringing black British histories to the theatre: an interview with Dawn Walton

by Sabo Kpade  The Artistic Director of Eclipse Theatre Company talks about the Arts Council-funded project Revolution Mix, and reflects on her eighteen years in the industry.   Tell us a bit about Revolution Mix. What does the project hope to achieve? It’s about inclusiveness. It’s about legacy. It’s about trying to tackle the sort… Read More

Even with “inclusive” Shakespeare, whiteness takes priority

by Kelly Kanayama  Gregory Doran, the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, came under fire recently for a Times article entitled “Lack of diversity not a problem, says RSC boss”. The article stated that Doran “did not want the middle classes sidelined” and wanted to maintain “equal rights” for “those of us who are white… Read More

Gentrification and complicity in South London

If you’re a black artist from Brixton, can you still be complicit in the area’s gentrification? An interview with Shola Amoo by Zahra Dalilah It’s no secret that London has changed drastically in the last decade. For many, the areas we grew up in and have loved fiercely, despite rumours that across rivers and over… Read More