Revisit a conversation between artist Tam Joseph and art historian Dr Anjalie Dalal-Clayton, celebrating the publication of Four Corners Books’ I Know What I See, the first major survey of Tam Joseph’s career.
‘With the wry observations of his concerted, determined and engaging international reach, Joseph is in so many respects the absolute embodiment of diaspora. But perhaps we’d do better to simply describe Joseph as a world citizen, one who is as deeply engaged with history as he is with geography, and formidably engaged with artistic innovation.’
— Eddie Chambers, Introduction to Tam Joseph: I Know What I See, 2023
For over 40 years, Tam Joseph’s work has taken him in many different directions, but it is grounded in a sensibility which revels in the connections between things, as well as the creative possibilities of human perception.
Some of Joseph’s paintings reflect on his own history and the history of injustices faced by African Caribbean people in Britain. Other works draw inspiration from diverse sources including cinema, music, and sport, as well as the natural world and the history of painting itself. Whether his subject is landscape, portrait or history, Joseph employs his deep knowledge of paintings of the past to create work which invites viewers to consider these genres afresh.
Tam Joseph lives and works in London. His work has been exhibited internationally and is represented in many public collections including the Arts Council Collection, Tate and V&A.
Dr Anjalie Dalal-Clayton is an art historian, focusing on British artists of African and Asian descent. She is based at University of the Arts London’s Decolonising Arts Institute, where her research focuses on collecting, interpretation and display practices in public museums and heritage organisations.
Four Corners Books is an independent publisher and charity, which shared space with Raven Row between 2009 and 2020.
Listen back to a conversation between artist Ibon Aranberri, art historian and writer Miren Jaio, and Raven Row’s director Alex Sainsbury, exploring what underpins Aranberri’s wide-ranging practice, how his complex research projects are generated, and how they unfold and intertwine, especially in relation to the works in Unequal Diameters.
Miren Jaio (born 1968) is a member of Bulegoa z/b, an office of art and knowledge based in Bilbao. She teaches Art History at the University of the Basque Country, Bilbao.
Ibon Aranberri (born 1969) has exhibited in numerous European institutions including in solo shows at Kunsthalle Basel (2007), Fundació Antoni Tapies, Barcelona (2011), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2011), and Secession, Vienna (2014). He participated in documenta 12 (2007), Sydney Biennial 2008, and Busan Biennial 2012. A survey exhibition of his work will open at Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid and Artium.Museao, Vitoria-Gasteiz, in November 2023.
FESPACO and the Archiving of African Cinema
With June Givanni (chair), Mohamed Challouf, Jihan El-Tahri, Aboubakar Sanogo and Keith Shiri
Since its establishment in 1969, the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in Burkina Faso has been considered one of the most important festivals of the African, and later the African diaspora’s, filmic imagination. Chaired by June Givanni, this panel charts and explores FESPACO’s histories and legacies.
Between Accessibility and Art Criticism: African/Diasporic Film Culture Today
With Awa Konaté (chair), Anthony Badu, Liz Chege, Abiba Coulibaly and Rōgan Graham
Increasingly the division between cinematic forms and materials produced for art galleries have blurred and created new forms of creative collaborations and questionings of the screen-based image. How does this context speak to legacies of the pioneers of African cinema and the challenges and opportunities for contemporary African film makers? The panel aims to explore the role and relevance of writing about and curating African/Diasporic films and to identify new ways to foster and develop ideas about accessibility and institution building in the contemporary moment.
Sisterhood
With Suzanne Scafe (chair), Wangui wa Goro, Sindamani Bridglal, Ruhi Hamid and Haja Fanta
This panel explores Black women’s filmmaking as an important voice in the development of Black independent film in the UK, the African diaspora and on the African continent in the 1980s. Black female directors, producers and programmers share their experiences of overcoming obstacles to produce their films and bring Black women’s experiences into the cinematic frame.
Please note, at 1.01.15 there is a section of 40 seconds with low audio quality during a microphone changeover.
Third Cinema in the Era of Channel 4
With Imruh Bakari (chair), Gaston Kaboré, Hudda Khaireh, Rod Stoneman and Parminder Vir
The first ten years of Channel 4 (1982–92) fundamentally transformed British film and television, and also witnessed the emergence of a Black British independent cinema. This intergenerational panel brought together key individuals who were part of that moment, with creative professionals who have encountered and reframed the complex legacies of Black British independent media production.
This event was part of PerAnkh – The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive at Raven Row.
Black on Europe
With Juliet Alexander (chair), Felix de Rooy (Zoom), Cecile Emeke, Colin Prescod and Onyekachi Wambu
Black on Europe was a landmark BBC television series produced to signal the establishment of the European single market on 1 January 1993. In 1991, Black British filmmakers Colin Prescod and Onyekachi Wambu documented the lived experiences of Black people and communities living within the EU across six countries: the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the UK. Thirty years on, this panel united the original filmmakers with filmmakers from the UK and Europe, exploring the meaning of being Black in Europe and our changing understandings of notions of belonging, race and identity.
Listen back to the second panel discussion from our event ‘Public Access Television, the Community Programme Unit and the BBC’, in partnership with the Bishopsgate Institute, exploring the Community Programme Unit’s role in bringing public access television to the UK, and the legacies and tentacles of its achievements.
The event took place on 25 March 2023, and was part of our exhibition ‘People Make Television’ 28 January–26 March 2023, an exhibition of DIY television from the 1970s curated by Lori E Allen, Matthew Harle, William Fowler and Alex Sainsbury.
This panel brought together Mike Bolland, Sue Davidson, Tony Laryea and Giles Oakley for a conversation chaired by Jo Henderson.
Revisit the first panel discussion from our event ‘Public Access Television, the Community Programme Unit and the BBC’, in partnership with the Bishopsgate Institute, exploring the Community Programme Unit’s role in bringing public access television to the UK, and the legacies and tentacles of its achievements.
The event took place on 25 March 2023, and was part of our exhibition ‘People Make Television’ 28 January–26 March 2023, an exhibition of DIY television from the 1970s curated by Lori E Allen, Matthew Harle, William Fowler and Alex Sainsbury.
This panel brought together Selma James, Mike Phillips and Maggie Pinhorn for a discussion chaired by Clive Nwonka.
Listen back to the first panel from our event ‘Community Cable Television in the 1970s’ in partnership with the Bishopsgate Institute, where we were joined by former cable channel producers, station managers, volunteers, artists and activists to discuss the history and legacy of community cable TV in the UK.
The event took place on 11 March 2023, and was part of our exhibition ‘People Make Television’ 28 January–26 March 2023, an exhibition of DIY television from the 1970s curated by Lori E Allen, Matthew Harle, William Fowler and Alex Sainsbury.
This discussion brought together Peter Lewis, Martin Parry, Alex Sainsbury and other former cable channel producers and volunteers, as well as participating community media artists and activists to consider the role community cable television played within the world of community media and arts.