This opportunity for us to get together and talk, it feels important. There’s people here who have never met before, people who have felt isolated as black and diverse creatives. We are used to being the odd ones out. We’ve learned to be careful in white-dominant spaces, to choose our words, to code-switch and hide parts of ourselves. The conversations we can have in a space of our own don’t arise from evaluations and consultations. It’s hard to share when most people in the room don’t relate, when they talk differently or question your experience. It has been a highlight of this project for us to meet other creatives and be surrounded by artists of colour. Minorities are made - and it heals us to be in a space where we are the norm, not the outsider. “WHEN YOU’RE THE ONLY PERSON IN THAT ROOM IT’S REALLY HARD. THEY LISTEN TO WHAT YOU SAY THEN THEY SAY ‘THAT’S NICE DEAR’ AND MOVE ON WITH THEIR OWN IDEAS.”; “WE DON’T NEED TO GET INTO THEIR ROOMS, THEY NEED TO COME INTO OUR ROOMS.”; “THEY NEED TO STEP OUTSIDE THEIR SPACES AND WAYS OF THINKING.”; “I CAME TO THIS INTERVIEW AND THEY ASKED ‘WHAT ARE YOUR PROBLEMS’ AND I FELT REALLY MISUNDERSTOOD - PEOPLE ON THAT PANEL WERE OBVIOUSLY FROM THE ESTABLISHED ARTS COMMUNITY AND THEY REALLY DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO CONNECT. I WASN’T THERE TO BE ‘FIXED’ THROUGH THEIR WHITE, OLDER, MIDDLE CLASS PERSPECTIVE.”; “IT’S LIKE PEOPLE WANT US TO TAKE ALL THEIR ANSWERS AND BE LIKE THEM BUT BLACK…”
PICTURES
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