Harsh Light: Jade Foster & Umulkhayr Mohamed
Wednesday 16 September, 7 – 8:30pm
Online (via Zoom)
Free & open to all
Accompanied by BSL interpretation
* we are currently adding subtitles to the footage above, apologies for any inconvenience.
Bloc Projects is excited to announce a new series of webinars in September called Harsh Light, in which we will explore the changing role and work of the visual arts in unprecedented times.
The series feels through reverberations of different kinds in 2020: of pandemic, social insurrections, and arts sector strategy. Just weeks after Arts Council England (ACE) released its 10-year vision for “a country transformed by culture”, life as we knew it came to a halt in the UK. This has been accompanied by political movements worldwide, the most salient of which -- for the British art world(s), at least -- has been the Black Lives Matter movement. As we are living the throes of interlinking health and social crises, what do ACE’s four investment principles of inclusivity and relevance, ambition and quality, dynamism, and environmental responsibility now mean?
Harsh Light explores the discrepancies between arts sector frameworks and arts worker lives through conversation. In other words, how do practitioners feel about the art world(s) projected for us by ACE? And how do we, in fact, live out and imagine these worlds from our respective points of view?
Jade Foster
We are very pleased to kick off our new webinar series with Jade Foster and Umulkhayr Mohamed, both of whom are part of the recently formed Black Curators Collective. Their conversation will revolve around developing strategies that work towards anti-racist structural change, with and against current systems. As Black practitioners emerging at this specific social and cultural moment, what does transformative work within art worlds look like right now? And how might it be positioned along histories of Black art and political movements in the UK?
About the speakers
Jade Foster
Jade Foster is an Artist, Curator and Creative Producer of Caribbean heritage. They are a Founder and Initiator of Black Curators Collective (BCC). BCC was founded in June 2020 and is a collective of black women and non-binary curators in the UK. The collective acts as a network that instigates cross-regional support, dialogue and collaborative projects for curators based across the UK, including Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Since its inception, they have gathered members who are independent or work in arts organisations across the country including Amgueddfa Cymru, CCA Glasgow, Eastside Projects, Manchester Art Gallery, New Art Exchange, Primary, Somerset House, and Tate. Jade holds a position as Assistant Curator at Primary and Creative Programme Coordinator at New Art Exchange (NAE) in Nottingham. They are the recipient of this years Curating Borders Residency with performingbordersLIVE20 and Never Done.
Umulkhayr Mohamed
Umulkhayr Mohamed is a Welsh Somali artist, writer and curator, who is currently an Amgueddfa Cymru Producer at AC-National Museum Wales. In her role at AC-NMW, Umulkhayr is a part of the core creative team working on an exhibition that imagines the future of Wales. In addition to this, she is the guest editor for the first edition of Cynfas, a new Interactive Arts Magazine that will be launching in October. She is also the curation lead of Lates: PITCH BLACK, a collaboration between AC-National Museum Cardiff and Artes Mundi that will be a multi-artform celebration of Blackness as boundless and infinite. Outside of her role at AC-NMW, Umulkhayr holds a number of positions where she consults on a strategic level regarding widening engagement, including being an Arts Associate at Arts Council Wales, as well as a part of BFI FAN’s D&I Advisory Group and BFI FAN's Young Consultants Group.
This webinar will be recorded and available to view via our website following the event.
This event free but booking is essential.
Umulkhayr Mohamed
Bloc Projects is proud to maintain a public programme that is free for everyone. However, attendees are encouraged to donate to the S2 Foodbank, who are carrying out essential work during this time. To donate either follow the link on our homepage or click the button below.
This programme of events has been generously supported by The Sheffield Town Trust