(BUT) WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT WHITE SUPREMACY?

sorryyoufeeluncomfortable

19 April - 20 May 2018
Glasgow International 2019

sorryyoufeeluncomfortable is a London-based collective that creates intentional spaces for deep study, conversation and multi-disciplinary art-making.

(BUT) WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT WHITE SUPREMACY? included multi-disciplinary work from 6 Black artists, writers and makers: Christopher Kirubi, Halima Haruna, Rabz Lansiquot, Mayfly Mutyambizi, Imani Robinson & Jacob V Joyce. Artists responded in lose or direct ways to the title question, for example, they may invert the question in order to ask: “What is white supremacy doing to you?”, or they may suggest that as Black artists, to make work of any subject matter, or of none at all, is to resist, to survive and to “do something”. The title (BUT) WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT WHITE SUPREMACY? acts both as a refusal (you come here expecting me to tell you what to do, but I only show you my art and make you see what you already know) and an acknowledgement that we are forced to share our lives with white supremacy. The question looms and it persists... the question is tiresome... the question is discomforting.

The static exhibition was supported by a programme of conversations, workshops and performances, exploring how these questions and provocations manifest in our lives and in our work. The programme included the second iteration of SYFU’s Black Film, British Cinema programme of shorts, a seminar on Translation with Halima Haruna, a themed reading group (Queering the Black Atlantic) with sorryyoufeeluncomfortable, and an artists roundtable.

A Note on Curation 
SYFU take pride in working in an artist-led, deeply collaborative way. Collective members Imani Robinson and Rabz Lansiquot will lead on the curation of this exhibition, doing our utmost to ensure that the works are able to stand alone, and that they are also in conversation with each other, creating an exhibition that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Biography

sorryyoufeeluncomfortable is a collective of thinkers and makers based in London. Formed out of the 2014 project Baldwin's Nigger Reloaded, initiated by artist Barby Asante and curator Teresa Cisneros, SYFU has presented work at ICA, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, Wellcome Collection, Tate Exchange, The Showroom and Iniva in London, as well as BALTIC (Newcastle), KVS (Brussels), Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham) and Framer Framed (Amsterdam).

Rabz Lansiquot is a filmmaker, programmer & DJ. Her work is informed by Black liberatory thought, Black queer studies, and lived experience, seeking to highlight the nuances of marginalised experience, and move beyond representation, to liberation.

Imani Robinson is an organiser, writer and curator. Her work focuses on resistance, liberation and Blackness in the aesthetic, poetic, material, psychological and philosophical realms. Imani works to build radical consciousness through art, popular education and dialogue and is currently completing an MA in Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, UoL.