In this lecture and discussion, curator Cedric Fauq will present the research that led to the making of the exhibition ‘Le Colt est Jeune & Haine’ at DOC, Paris, which took the quasi-fall of Beyoncé on the stage of the Superbowl Halftime Show 2016 as anchor. Fauq’s lecture will be followed by an academic response from pleasure activist and speculative writer Ama Josephine Budge who will contextualise “Shaved in Opposite Directions’s” series of sports inspired artworks. The conversation will explore what it means to be an active agent in a sporting event both as a performer and as audience. What are the nuances both on and off of the playing field? What part do these nuances play in popular culture? Where do politics meet sports in a space of ‘Americana’ as well as body politics?

Cédric Fauq is Assistant Curator at Nottingham Contemporary. He recently curated ‘Le Colt est Jeune & Haine’ at DOC, Paris and ‘The Share of Opulence; Doubled; Fractional’ at Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna. Upcoming projects include an exhibition at Cordova, Barcelona.

Ama Josephine Budge is a Writer, Artist, and Curator whose work navigates intimate explorations of race, art, ecology and feminism, working to activate movements that catalyse human rights, environmental revolutions and queered identities.

Supported by Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants

An evening of screenings curated by artist Gray Wielebinski. “To be a Fan” will utilise films with a focus on sports and its narratives as a means to interrogate identity. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the artist and curators.

Supported by Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants

A “First Thursday” performance lecture by London based artist Rosa Johan Uddoh whose work is “influenced by her architectural background, rooting stories in specific places and materials.” Uddoh’s performance will take inspiration from race and gender in sports with a particular focus on Serena Williams and will be followed by a conversation with Rosa Johan Uddoh and Gray Wielebinski.

Supported by Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants

Join us for performances and in-conversation with artists Georgia Lucas, Ahilapalapa Rands, Carlos Mauricio Rojas, Lasana Shabazz and b.Dewitt guest curator Ama Josephine Budge.

At this gathering of interdisciplinary, UK-based artists of colour, we receive four short performative provocations from Georgia Lucas, Carlos Mauricio Rojas and Lasana Shabazz building on the topics of the Navigating Proximity series; exploring colourism, passing, performances and consumptions of racialisation and the reclamation of our very skins. The performers will then be joined by Ahilapalapa Rands and moderator Ama Josephine Budge an a roundtable discussion on survival, experience and transformation. 

Georgia Lucas-Going's practice exists in a range of mediums from installation to photography, performance and video art – her work explores themes of stereotypes, power dynamics, also exploring humour and the everyday. Her constant ongoing theme is ‘SELF TAUGHT SURVIVAL TECHNIQUES’.

Ahilapalapa Rands (Hawaiian, Fijian, Pākehā) is a freelance curator, artist and founding member of D.A.N.C.E. art club currently based in London. 

Carlos Mauricio Rojas is a poet reclaiming cultural heritage by exerting ancestral hurt; weaving language and experience into a constantly shifting latinidad laced in queer dreams and marica fantasy.

Lasana Shabazz is a multidisciplinary performance artist who has performed internationally and nationally, working with the likes of Manchester Art Gallery, Hampton Court, and the Tate Britain. 

Moderated by Ama Josephine Budge, speculative science fiction, fantasy and art writer, curator and pleasure activist. www.amajosephinebudge.com  @amjamb


b.Dewitt acts as a gallery, agency and curatorial project to support the practices of artists working with social and political questions. b.Dewitt are cultural producer Ashleigh Barice and curator Teresa Cisneros.

Image: 2018, courtesy of artists

Gallery is fully wheelchair accessible. For further information please contact us on info@bdewittgallery.com.

Supported by Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants.