As a black voice in a loud world, what does it mean to find sanctuary?

How do we navigate the tension between speaking out for change and the innate desire to preserve the interior ‘undergrowth’ of our lives? When can sound create space…and quiet convey deep feeling?

Powerful concepts rooted in black feminist theory are laid bare in Quiet, the debut Faber poetry collection from Victoria Adukwei Bulley. Share with us in a rich and spellbinding exploration of the places where loudness, silence, outwardness and interiority intersect, through soundscape and performance inspired by Victoria’s work.

Joining Victoria will be Zimbabwean literary and sound artist Belinda Zhawi – whose original sound collage uses poetry, archive footage, voice and field recordings to explore themes of ancestry and lineage –  and DJ and scholar Lynnée Denise. Through an audio sampling experiment, Denise will draw inspiration from Bulley’s poetry to consider the relationship between Techno, Free Jazz, and Dub, and how Black music is a tool of survival that exceeds its entertainment value.

To close the event, join Victoria, Belinda and Lynnée will join Jade Bentil for a conversation as they reflect upon the role that quiet plays in their creative practices spanning literature, music and sound.

Victoria Adukwei Bulley is a poet, writer and artist based in London. She is the winner of an Eric Gregory Award, and has held residencies internationally in the US, Brazil, and the V&A Museum. Her debut poetry collection, Quiet, was released by Faber in the UK this year, and is set for North American release in January 2023 from Knopf.

Belinda Zhawi’s a Zimbabwean literary & sound artist based in London, author of Small Inheritances (ignitionpress, 2018), & experiments with sound/text performance as MA.MOYO. Her work has been featured on various platforms including The White Review, NTS, Boiler Room & BBC Radio. She’s held residencies with Triangle France, Serpentine Galleries and ICA London. Belinda’s the co-founder of literary arts platform, BORN::FREE.

Lynnée Denise is an artist, scholar, writer, and DJ whose work reflects on underground cultural movements, the 1980s, migration studies, theories of escape, and electronic music
of the African Diaspora. Denise coined the phrase “DJ Scholarship” to re-position the role of the DJ from a party purveyor to an archivist, cultural custodian, and information specialist. Lynnée Denise was the Sterling Brown ’22 Distinguished Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College and is currently a doctoral student in the Department of Visual Culture at Goldsmiths University of London. Her bylines have appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, and the Oprah Daily.

Jade Bentil is a Black feminist historian and DPhil researcher at the University of Oxford. Her scholarship uses oral history methodologies to centre the experiences of Black women of African and Caribbean descent in Britain and their long history of rebellion. Jade’s debut book, REBEL CITIZEN, uses oral history interviews to explore the lived experiences of Black women who migrated to Britain following the Second World War and is forthcoming from Allen Lane.