- Venue
- Online
- Date
- Thursday, January 23, 2025
03:00 PM - Address
- YouTube
- Location
- The Internet
- Organiser
- Autograph
Brixton in the 1980s was shaped by radical action with activist groups, community centres and art spaces confronting disparities in race, gender and wealth. Within this politically charged atmosphere, photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode’s Railton Road studio transcended into a sanctuary visualising black queer self-expression, offering a powerful lens into the intersections of identity, politics and art.
Autograph’s new exhibition The Studio – Staging Desire features never-before-seen photographs from this era by Fani-Kayode, who was a prominent figure in the Black British art scene and contributing member of the Brixton Artists Collective. To commemorate his radical vision, this symposium will bring together artists, historians, writers and residents who experienced and participated in this creative moment in social history – as well as those inspired by its legacy.
Join us online for a panel discussion exploring the socio-political climate of 1980s Brixton. Panel one will delve into local social activism involving anti-racism movements, LGBTQ+ rights campaigns and grassroots community organising that sought to challenge institutional inequalities. Following this, we will turn our focus toward the future in a second panel. Panel two will examine the ongoing impact of these movements and explore how they continue to inspire activism and creative practices around identity, community, and representation.
Speakers include Ajamu X, Andrew Hurman, Oumou Longley, Jacob V Joyce, Lucy Davies and Binta Yade – with more to be announced. You can see the photographs Fani-Kayode took at his Brixton studio from 1983 until his death in 1989 in the VR exhibition tour of The Studio – Staging Desire.
