The unbearable whiteness of history

by Jendella Benson  Deciding that it is never too early to take the task of cultural reproduction seriously (see David Osa Amadasun’s article, “‘Black people don’t go to galleries’ – The reproduction of taste and cultural values”), I took my fourteen month old son to the National Portrait Gallery one brisk November afternoon. The exhibition… Read More

Preparing Your Children For The Apocalypse

by Jendella Benson In the immortal words of rapper Aubrey “Drake” Graham, “Man, what a time to be alive! You and yours, versus me and mine!” When the annals of history are compiled, what will 2016 be known as? The year of Brexit and Trump? The year Prince and Bowie passed on? Or perhaps we’ll… Read More

We are witnessing not an apathy for politics, but a hunger for change from the template

by Chimene Suleyman It is possible to understand that associating with someone who does not favour the marginalised is not unequivocally an admission of being racist, a woman-hater, or anti-gay rights. It may not excuse the individual from blindly aligning and enabling a repressive structure, but that is for them to deconstruct at their own pace.… Read More

For women who have been aggressively sold the idea that they are not enough

by Jendella Benson  Why did Brad and Angelina break up? Does anyone know or are we still grasping in the dark to make sense of this travesty? But why did we think they would never break up? Celebrities divorce all the time, so what makes this instance so disappointing? A sentiment I saw repeated and… Read More

‘Baby Brain’ and Other Myths

by Jendella Benson  I hate the term ‘baby brain’. It feels like an inside joke amongst mothers that uttered by any other person feels patronising. It suggests a certain type of ditzyness due to your brain turning to mush, like being around an infant all day every day somehow mentally incapacitates you. But ‘baby brain’… Read More

‘Little has changed’: migrants and refugees are still seen as the enemy

by Maya Goodfellow Tomorrow will mark a year since three-year old Alan Kurdi’s body was washed up on a beach in Turkey. He drowned in the Mediterranean sea during his family’s attempt to seek safety after fleeing their home in Syria. A picture of his lifeless body face down in the sand was on the front… Read More

“I Have My Anger Back” | Jendella Benson

To My Son by Jendella Benson  What is there to be said? I can only feel anger for so long until it ferments into the cold reality of endless despair. In the echo chambers of our social media spheres we are all shouting, all screaming, all crying the same thing. The hopelessness of such a… 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

Theresa May Might Become PM, but this is Not a Feminist Revolution

by Kiri Kankhwende  It’s almost a fortnight since the referendum and no one seems to have figured out what to do with all the control we took back yet, least of all the architects of Brexit. David Cameron, who risked the both the European Union and our own fragile one for the sake of Tory… Read More