Former Kingston University Fine Arts students Warsha Ahmed, Lucy Carter and Cuba Brown-Higgins have curated an interactive piece of artwork that explores the importance of Black History Month and what it means to them.
The project invites students to add their own thoughts about how society can amplify black voices, how black students see themselves, as well as a series of resources for Black History Month such as books, films, podcasts, and articles.
Carter said they made it interactive as a way of allowing students to contribute.
“It is really important for people to have this space and be able to access it whenever they are ready and that’s why we thought it was important for it to be interactive,” she said.
They also aimed to reimagine what people think of Black History Month
Ahemed said: “I do think it should be a time to celebrate black lives instead of always going back to the idea of ‘this is the lifestyle, and these are the struggles, and these are the problems’ and always focusing on that.”
“Of course, it’s good to know about that and not be ignorant, but don’t use this month to just focus on those things,” she added.
The installation can be found at the KSA Platform Gallery, located in the reception area of Kingston University’s Knights Park Campus.
The project was installed on Monday 9 October and will remain at the KSA Platform Gallery until Friday 13 October.
Carter spoke about seeing people interacting with the artwork and enjoying the recognition it is getting already: “Even if people don’t feel comfortable writing on there, a lot of people will come by and take pictures of it because they’re interested in looking at the stuff on there.
“I thought it was quite cool that people would actually walk in and see the artwork and they can see a whole bunch of resources that they can look into.”
Konstantinos Patas
Rizzato Raul