October can only mean one thing….Black History Month!
While I will try to refrain from going on a rant about why Black History shouldn’t be merely confined to one month every year, what I will say is the energy around BHM in 2020 feels more palpable than ever! With the surge of activity, protest, outcry, affirmative action and general momentum that has been building over the past 6 months around Black Lives Matter, it really feels like Black History Month has a renewed focus in UK, which is great to see! I just hope and pray that this momentum endures, and doesn’t dissipate as soon as this ‘issue’ stops being ‘on trend’ - SMH!
Keeping on the positive notes however, I have really been diving in to creating this month; in particular, working on a body of new artwork which speaks to Black Female empowerment. As Nina Simone so wisely stated, being an artist is all about ‘reflecting the times you are in’ - for me therefore, my artistry and more importantly my artistic purpose is to represent the subjects and the people, who are seldom seen or heard in the mainstream. And for me (and I am sure many others) that is Black Women. I will have more to share on the developing work in the next month or so (watch this space!).
I’ve also had a number of exciting opportunities this month to take part on other initiatives around BHM and speak about my own experiences as a Black British Woman and artist on the radio; taking part in two separate interviews with two wonderful radio hosts (ironically both of whom are called Rachel!) at Colourful Radio and BBC Coventry and Warwickshire. I had a blast talking to them about how my identity has informed my creativity, who my creative inspirations are (obvs Nina Simone and Maya Angelou had to be mentioned!) and what I want my creative legacy to be. Oh and my original song Eagle was also featured as part of the BBC’s Black History Show, which was SO cool!
In case you missed the shows, in answer to the latter question about legacy, for me, is all about continuing to create (until I am very old and physically incapable of doing so!) and through that creativity - whether that is through song, poetry, art, short stories, novels or spoken word - challenge the status quo and ignite and inspire positive change. I see it as my creative purpose to represent as authentically as I can, the stories, voices, and identities of those like myself, whose presence and contributions throughout our history have been so profound, and yet within the history books, omitted. It is time to rewrite those narratives and make them right. I see it as my job as an artist and creator to help correct those narratives and bring about representations much richer, truer and complete in their form.
Happy Black History Month everyone! x