Black Women 100 — Rising Arts Agency and artivism

All photography by Mireya González Photography

On Sunday 7th October, we were invited to the Black Women 100 event, hosted by Bristol Women’s Voice at the Arnolfini. We sent four of our artists of colour to talk about their involvement with Rising and the role of art in creating social change.

2018 marks 100 years since some women won the right to vote in the UK. This has been a year to reflect on the victories of the women before us and things that we are still fighting for. Bristol Women’s Voice invited us to contribute to their event ‘Black Women 100’- an event with the aim to unearth and shed light on the stories of some of the incredible women of colour that fought for the right to vote and equality.

Bristol Women's Voice Black Women 100 Flyer

“So many black women have led the way to fighting inequality and injustice throughout their lives, without the acknowledgement and recognition of their invaluable contribution” – Sandra Gordon, BWV Volunteer Coordinator.

So this event was a beautiful opportunity to re-address that and celebrate the lives and works of women of colour who bravely, proudly and often valiantly fought to make our lives better. The event was a space for us to reflect on the ways our work contributes to changing some of the narratives around equality and true inclusion and to celebrate those who have often been erased from history.

Rising’s featured artists Stacey Olika and Anika Deb were joined by Rising team members, Euella Jackson and Roseanna Dias, to share some of the exciting projects that they have been involved in at Rising, and how they hope that their work can spark social change. Stacey spoke about her journey as a young artist of colour and how themes around identity and personal politics informs her work. She spoke about the importance of visibility and how crucial true representation is within art.

Anika shared more about Rising’s latest collective commission, the Throwing Shade exhibition which premiered in The Vestibules, College Green on Monday 15th October and that draws on the experiences of six young artists of colour around themes of migration and belonging. The exhibition has been an amazing opportunity for the artists to gain experience in curating an exhibition and take up space in The Vestibules which is connected to the City Hall. Euella spoke about Rising’s OnBoard project that seeks to get young people (particularly young people of colour) on to the boards of Bristol’s biggest cultural organisations. Roseanna spoke about Rising’s data collection project, ‘Whose Culture’, a means of challenging elitist notions of cultural capital and bringing more young people into the conversation around what we call ‘culture’. All of these projects incapsulate what Rising does best – we are multi-faceted and agile, and Rising would not be what it is today without these projects.

Through our 30-minute presentation, we explored Rising’s role in creating social change in the city and in the creative sector. We pride ourselves on being youth-led and taking a multi-directional approach to changing conversations and perceptions within the worlds we live and work in. We want to be a part of creating radical change and the conditions in which young artists can thrive and grow. The young people we work with are leaders, innovators and creators. We try to centre experiences of people of colour in our work and we always try to challenge the industry to be as inclusive and diverse as possible. There are so many things that we stand for, but we strive towards creating a world where young people are valued, where marginalised groups are understood, respected and heard and where art is positioned as integral to the functioning of society. Like many of the attendees of the Black Women 100 event, we believe that art has the potential to create a radical shift in our societies and we are proud that Rising Arts Agency serves as a vessel towards that. We are incredibly proud of all the work that we do and the fact that we can call ourselves artivists.

The rest of the event was programmed with incredible artists, speakers, theatre performers and activists – so we were definitely in good company. Black Women 100 was a brilliant way to celebrate how far we have come, the role that women of colour have played in that and how we as individuals can continue the conversation in our own practice. We really valued the chance to connect with so many brilliant people and projects that are committed to making creating change in our city.

Thank you to Bristol Women’s Voice for inviting us and thank you to everyone who have supported our journey thus far.