Can Art Save Us?

She Wrote Her Own Eulogy - Windrush 75

Shirley May is an acclaimed poet, writer and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of literature. She is also CEO and Artistic Director of Young Identity, Manchester's premier spoken word collective in the UK. In 2006, Shirley founded the Inner Voice, a voluntary Youth Arts Project that 16 dedicated years later, has become Young Identity, a literature and performance arts charity. Young Identity now has the prestigious status of being a national portfolio organisation with the UK Arts Council. In other words, Young Identity is recognized as a leader both in their field and in our collective national arts. Shirley's work is described as "blazing with emotion, challenging all the senses." We talk about her work responding to pain and pride in the experience of migration, her Jamaican heritage and in African history. We start with how one day "she woke up with a poem in her mouth," how "the word was first" and developing the "risk of excellence," in marginalised youth today. Young Identity is important legacy work that talks to truth.
This episode first featured in Season 3 (Speak Your Excellence). As part of the Windrush 75 commemorations and celebrations, Season 4 includes this episode again and it is also complimented with an additional short interview with Shirley May. This is listed in Season 4 as 'Still Dancing - Windrush 75,' in which Shirley talks specifically about the experience of her parents leaving Jamaica for Britain, including experiences not previously published in her book, "She Wrote Her Own Eulogy." Her parents came in response to the call to help rebuild Britain post WWII and she talks about why the Windrush 75 Anniversary and events are so important in response to both legacy and scandal. (More links below).
Season 4 features 7 Windrush specific interviews with world class and award winning artists, just look for titles with 'Windrush 75.'
You can hear more from the Young Identity poets in Season 3 too, who also share Caribbean and African heritage. See Season 3 listings:
'The Courage and Craft of Two Poets'
'Pain, Poetry and a Jamaican born Nigerian Princess'.
 
Series Audio Editor - Courtesy of Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. News and read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Shirley May here:
www.youngidentity.org/                                 
www.shirleyannemay.co.uk/
Find out more about #Justice4Windrush www.justice4windrush.org/
 

A Photographer’s Caribbean Voyage - Windrush 75

Jim Grover, a social documentary photographer who deep dives respectfully into the hearts and minds of people in his local communities. Living in South Clapham London, he is rewarded with a rich tapestry of life. His work celebrates 75 years of Windrush stories and Caribbean culture, 25 years of the ordination of women into the Church of England priesthood and he has captured Covid stories from a single park bench during the global crisis. He celebrated the life of Maurice Dorfman, who ran the longest surviving independent shop on Clapham High Street. Maurice was the grandchild of Ukrainian refugees who arrived in 1902, fleeing anti-semitic violence in what was then part of Russia. And this is what Jim does. He looks behind shop facades into West Indian Dominoes clubs and Jamaican front rooms. He attends gravesides and community meetings. Like his first major project entitled 'Of Things Unseen,' Jim looks behind all of those walls that can stop us from seeing our shared human experience and from connecting. His work is described as 'poignant, intimate, moving, and often beautiful.' And the Times, the Observer, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Time Out, the BBC, the British Journal of photography are all a part of the British media and more that respects his work in return. We talk about trust and ethics in Jim's role as a social documentary photographer with access to homes, funerals and deeply personal stories.
Season 4 features 7 Windrush specific interviews with world class and award winning artists, just look for titles with 'Windrush 75.'
Series Audio Editor - Courtesy of Joey Quan.
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. News and read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Jim Grover: www.jimgroverphotography.com/
The Windrush Exhibition: www.windrushvoyagethroughthegenerations.com/
Find out more about #Justice4Windrush www.justice4windrush.org/
 

A Cameroonian Clay Addict Spotlights the World Stage of Ceramics.

Cameroonian clay addict, Djakou Kassi Nathalie, is a ceramic artist now based in Nigeria. With over 30 years of practice and numerous prestigious awards, this is statement art that understands architectural design, artistic innovation and creative craft. Natalie responds to discrimination, racism, solidarity, human and environmental violence, education and equality. Her work combines contemporary issues with ancestry always reflecting her deep love and admiration of African art. Her use of the iconic African mask carved into her clay in repetitive patterns, is like a language of love, showing the cultural roots of her life that continues to flourish with possibility. From objects to sculpted figures, all of her work, just like her larger-than-life fist clenched in solidarity ‘Speaks Out.’ We talk about fighting for her place at the only art school and the cultural disapproval, learning to be creatively fearless, to be a mother figure to her siblings and in the community and how she is an inspirational educator. We talk about the power of art as knowledge and our responsibility to educate each other. We talk about love over brutality and how the use of her iconic African mask is also a statement of human accountability in the world.
We were relying on a power generator lasting for this interview and Nathalie was kindly working in a second language too. I asked her to write an additional few words in her first language in response to the question, Can art save us?
L'art peut nous sauver si les sujets abordés par les artistes sont pertinents et accessibles au plus grand nombre et surtout accessibles aux plus jeunes . L'art peut nous sauver à travers une education permanente sur les sujets de société en revelant et en proposant des solutions à travers l'expression artistique que ce soit par la musique, le theatre les arts visuels, les performances, l'ecriture ou autres formes artistiques. L' art peut nous sauver en nous montrant l'autre facette des choses que nous voyons mal.
 
Translation: Art can save us if the subjects addressed by the artists are relevant and accessible to the greatest number of people and especially accessible to the youngest. Art can save us through a lifelong education on social issues by revealing and proposing solutions through artistic expression whether through music, theater, visual arts, performances, writing or others art form. Art can save us by showing us the other side of things we see are wrong.
 
Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Djakou Kassi Nathalie:
51.3k Followers https://www.instagram.com/djakoukassi/?hl=en

Two Bodies with One Voice on Poetry, Dance and the Law.

What does a commended poet, dancer of the Indian, classical form Kathak, outstanding legal academic and occasional writer in the hope-punk story genre, have in common? One person it seems, Bhumika Billa. What stands out is Bhumika’s astonishing ability to communicate through dance, language and legal linguistics. She has a sharp eye on identity, whether it’s her own as an Indian woman living in the UK, the gendered constraints on her female ancestors, gender and sexual politics today, social class or caste and the digital identity that we now adopt or are arguably forced into. In 2021, the BBC recognised Bhumika as one of Britain’s most exciting emerging spoken word artists and she has been a finalist in several, prestigious slams since then. She is in the business of observing and unravelling the intricacies of data politics, artificial intelligence and law, structural inequality and the future we all face if we don’t stand up for justice. We talk about living in two bodies, the male gaze, anger, curiosity as a privilege, freedom and storytelling through dance and poetry. 
Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Bhumika Billa:
https://applesandsnakes.org/2022/11/25/bhumika-billa-my-mother-lives-in-me/
 

The Faerytale Doctor, a Shamanic Pathway to Community Service.

Can you imagine making an appointment to see Dr. Lovely or better still the Faerytale Doctor? Would you be open to the spiritual practice of shamanism through storytelling as a way of navigating your life or to find a compass for your soul? Could we all benefit from connecting to something sacred to help us find ourselves in our ever complex and intense world? Elizabeth Lovely begun her shamanic pathway with the 'breaking of her brain,' when she had to find new ways to interpret her life. After her vibrant and hectic years in theatre and arts festivals she turned to indigenous spiritual practices, a deeply held respect for shamanism and the art of storytelling. We don't talk about conjuring up magic and trickery but how to find connections to live better. We talk about shamans as healers, as the first visionary artists, accepting the sacred as real, life in community service and making plenty of cups of courage tea.
Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Elizabeth Lovely: https://faerytaleapothecary.wixsite.com/sacredstories/elizabethjanelovely

Stand Up for Sit Down AJ!

AJ O’Neil is an internationally recognised West End, TV and Film performer. He’s a dancer, choreographer and long-standing teacher of the famous Pineapple Dance Studios, home to some of the world’s most famous stars. His fitness classes have been listed in British Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Timeout as their ‘Best Pics’ and viewed 100s of 1000s times online. He was the personal trainer for dancers on ITV's, Dance, Dance, Dance and he choreographed and presented Pop Up Popstar for the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ. He's choreographed television dancethons and dance virals, getting British celebrities like Olympic gold medallist Tom Daley, multi-million record selling singer, Louise Rednapp and TV and Radio presenter, Dermot O’Leary, all dancing. His has numerous TV credits and has worked on and appeared in ads including Dior, Nintendo and Puma. His theatre credits include Chicago in the West End and the European and West End Premiere of ‘A Man of No Importance,’ and he played Jamie in the Irish premier of The Last Five Years.  But, after all that glitter, here comes the real shine. AJ gets everyone dancing. He’s also known as Sit Down AJ because of his inclusive work  and his poptastic cardio sessions, are met with an outpouring of gratitude, thank yous and love from people struggling with exclusion. He’s also bringing new joy into the special educational needs space. We talk about a life changing accident, putting low self-esteem under the spotlight in more ways than one and how to flourish.
Series Audio Editor - Courtesy of Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover AJ:
https://www.movewithaj.com/
https://www.ajoneill.co.uk/home

Speak Your Excellence - The Word Came First.

Shirley May is an acclaimed poet, writer and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of literature. She is also CEO and Artistic Director of Young Identity, Manchester's premier spoken word collective in the UK. In 2006, Shirley founded the Inner Voice, a voluntary Youth Arts Project that 16 dedicated years later, has become Young Identity, a literature and performance arts charity. Young Identity now has the prestigious status of being a national portfolio organisation with the UK Arts Council. In other words, Young Identity is recognized as a leader both in their field and in our collective national arts. Shirley's work is described as "blazing with emotion, challenging all the senses." We talk about her work responding to pain and pride in the experience of migration, her Jamaican heritage and in African history. We start with how one day "she woke up with a poem in her mouth," how "the word was first" and developing the "risk of excellence," in marginalised youth today. Young Identity is important legacy work that talks to truth.
Series Audio Editor - Courtesy of Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Shirley May here:
www.youngidentity.org/   
https://www.shirleyannemay.co.uk/ 

Pain, Poetry and a Jamaican Born Nigerian Princess.

Princess Arinola Adegbite a.k.a. P. A. Bitez is a British Jamaican-born Nigerian poet, she’s a spoken word artist, a songwriter and filmmaker whose artistic expression is described as social activism and spiritual healing. At 16, she published her debut poetry collection 'Soft Tortures.' At 17, she won Slambassadors, a national poetry competition and by 2020, she was one of six finalists of the BBC Words First talent scheme, searching for the Best Spoken Word Poets in the UK. In 2021 she was awarded Manchester Creative of The Year at The Manchester Culture Awards and she has won a number of successful commissions too. Currently Princess Arinola, is a member of Young Identity, Manchester’s Premier Spoken Word Collective and in early 2023, we can look forward to her Afrofuturistic EP Vintage Destiny. We talk about self-actualisation and dysmorphia, poetry defined by proximity to blackness, page poets and spoken word artists, editing versus erasure, love and loss and whether Shakespeare and Tupac were the same.  
If you're lucky enough to be in Manchester (UK), Saturday, 18th March, 2023, head to Manchester Central Library from Midday to 2pm. FREE, Princess Arinola will be part of a live performance, 'Rehearsal Methods,' by Jade Montserrat. We support #free and #accessforall at Can Art Save Us?
Series Audio Editor - Courtesy of Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Princess Arinola here 'On the Team': https://www.youngidentity.org/

Partition, Silence and Poetry. A British-Pakistani Poet Speaks Up.

Manchester based poet Qudsia Akhtar is already recognised as an important new voice for her generation, her debut collection of poems, 'Khamoshi' (Silence), is out now, published by Verve Poetry Press. She is also highly commended in the Forward Book of Poetry, 2023, considered the indispensable annual guide to contemporary poetry. Qudsia reflects modern Britain as a British-Pakistani writer. She talks about the noise of cultural duality as well as the silence that builds inside generations of migrant women. Her soft and gentle voice doesn't betray the histories of massacres, genocides, patriarchy, colonial legacies and Islamophobia. We talk about gruesome truths uncovered by the arts, creativity, self-expression and speaking up to demand justice for those who can't. Illustrated with readings by Qudsia throughout.
Series Audio Editor - Courtesy of Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Qudsia Akhtar here: https://www.couldseeher.com/
 

Holding the Holocaust in a Poetic Heart.

Adam Kammerling is a former, UK slam poet champion who has since become an inter-disciplinary artist combining his innovative poetry with theatre, dance and music. He embraces collaboration, risk and experimentation and his poetry creates movement both on and off the page. His debut poetry collection, Seder, is a National Jewish Book Awards Finalist. Adam's collection explores his Jewish heritage, inter-generational trauma and his deeply personal visit to Auschwitz. Please be sure to listen to him recite the poem Orange, orange, orange, in this podcast. We talk about his creative journey from punk and metal bands to slam poetry to inter-disciplinary performances of his poems today. We talk about trauma, the holocaust, his family and memory. "It's a strange feeling to reach for memory and hold nothing." We talk about male identity distorted by violence and confused courage and his creative workshops with homeless affected people and looked after children. Adam is a compassionate soul with a very deep and "shared root." His  theatre work has been reviewed as ‘dazzling brilliance,’ his rap as 'unpretentious' and his work with young people in foster care as 'sensational.' 
Published on January 25th, 2023, Adam is headlining on January 27th at the Holocaust Memorial Day, in Wrexham and his website link is below.
Series Audio Editor - Courtesy of Joey Quan.
Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb
Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: https://www.canartsaveus.com
Discover Adam Kammerling here: https://adamkammerling.co.uk/