ONCA is delighted to showcase the song and short film Uncurling by Jaguar Kin. Uncurling is a song and short film, created by a group of Brighton-based black and brown artists. It explores the loss experienced by racialised bodies - in the last 18 months, and throughout history - and celebrates the light, hope and growth that is found, uncurling, amongst the darkness. Listen to Josephine Hall and Oluwafemi Hughes Jonas in conversation about the process of turning the original poem into a song and short film.

Josephine Hall & Oluwafemi Hughes Jonas on Jaguar Kin - Uncurling

To mark Lost Species Day 2019, ONCA collaborated with artist Deru Anding, researchers from the University of Brighton, Youth Strike 4 Climate Brighton and other amazing environmental justice activists to create Generations. This was a creative, educational exhibition and programme of environmental justice events that explored the tensions between remembering and renewal in apocalyptic times. 

In the ONCA Gallery, Deru Anding showed an inspiring series of large panoramic drawings which evoked the forest and community where he grew up. Deru now lives and works as an architect and artist in London, but he was born and raised amongst the Bidayuh Tribe in the jungle of northwest Borneo. Over the past two decades, 75% of Deru’s homeland has been destroyed for palm oil plantations, logging, and other developments. 

The exhibition, which was curated by ONCA’s Susuana Amoah, aimed to raise awareness of protests against ongoing tropical deforestation and encourage solidarity with indigenous communities. 

The first event of the programme was our Slow Fashion panel discussion, where we were joined by Eshita Kabra-Davies, the founder of By Rotation, and Paola Masperi, the founder of Mayamiko. Together we talked about the growth of the ‘slow fashion’ movement in response to concerns about how fast fashion is negatively impacting the environment. 

Next, in the lead-up to the November Youth Strike 4 Climate demo which asked people to mobilise against the fast fashion industry, we faciltated a fun day of making, mending and upcycling at ONCA Gallery with Climate Action Movement and Queer Crafts Club.

We were excited to welcome climate justice activist Suzanne Dhaliwal to talk about her anti-oppression and diversity work in climate activism. 
 
We also co-hosted a film screening and discussion event exploring the loss of forest cultures and livelihoods in Borneo. 

ONCA marked Remembrance Day for Lost Species with a ritual on the beach and an afternoon of conversations in the gallery. 

Joshua Virasami came to ONCA along with Kieran Kirkwood of Wretched of the Earth for an evening of conversation about climate justice activism, the Green New Deal and ways to organise and build solidarity across borders and between communities. 

And last but not least, ONCA co-hosted a Brighton Student Climate Networking Event with Youth Strike for Climate. We invited Brighton and Hove university and college students for an evening of talks and creative activities to generate conversation and connections amongst students working on action for climate justice.

The event was led by student activists from NUS, Decolonise Sussex, Climate Action Movement and Global Justice Now Brighton.

We hope that this array of events helped to shine a light on indigenous narratives and, most of all, generate support for local, transnational and intergenerational solidarity.

Generations: Programme Overview | ONCA

Hi, my name is Imani Robinson and I am a trustee at ONCA.

I’m also a member of sorry you feel uncomfortable collective and I curated Some of Us Did Not Die.

Lost Species Day is a chance each year to explore the stories of extinct and critically endangered species, cultures, life ways, and ecological communities. Whilst emphasising that these losses are rooted in violent and discriminatory governing practices, the day provides an opportunity for participants to make or renew commitments to all who remain, and to develop creative and practical solutions.

In recognition of Lost Species Day, this exhibition featured the work of three artists of colour with distinct approaches to exploring the environmental impact of racism and capitalism as ongoing social issues.

By providing a nurturing environment for artists of colour to explore these issues and make and exhibit work, the O N C A community honoured the diverse experiences and practices associated with enduring and witnessing the loss of cultural and biological diversity.

As an independent curator, I like to work with as many black and POC artists as possible. We are undervalued, under-resourced, underrepresented and under-supported in the arts broadly speaking.

It was important specifically for this project to work with artists engaged in racial and environmental justice and that these artists were speaking and making from a place of experience, as well as theoretical interest.

There were a bunch of fantastic events programmed for Some of Us Did Not Die. We hosted a drop-in workshop to help artists understand more about the project before they applied. We held an artists open studios on the Barge, where I was in conversation with writer, curator, and artist, Ama Josephine Budge. Discussing environmental justice, racial justice and pleasure activism.

I hosted an artist talk with Matice, Laurèl and Tsai, to give the audience an idea of the process behind making the work and also to situate the ideas in a broader context.

O N C A invited Tj Demos, Joshua Virasami, and Mads Ryle to discuss activist solidarity across communities and across boarders.

And other events included a BSL interpreted exhibition tour and also a zine making workshop with Susuana Amoah. I’m so proud to have curated Some of Us Did Not Die at ONCA, because the intersections between racial and environmental justice are so often, minimised, ignored or erased.

But I think we did a great job of highlighting the importance of finding creative strategies for an understanding of the state of the world. And for making work that is challenging, insightful and bold. I hope that our audiences felt this too.

Some Of Us Did Not Die: Programme Overview | ONCA

Transcript: https://onca.org.uk/2018/08/20/review-visionary-fictions-2018/

Visionary Fictions: Programme Overview | ONCA

We were proud to be hosting three amazing artists for our first ever Lost Species Day Residency. These artists created new works responding to the theme of biodiversity, racial justice and environmental justice, that were showcased at ONCA Gallery in central Brighton November 28 – December 16.

Some of Us Did Not Die: RDLS 2018 Artists in Residence | ONCA

National Union of Student Black Students’ Officer, Fope Olaleye, speaks to ONCA about climate justice, racism and decolonisation.

Transcript: https://onca.org.uk/2020/03/25/fope-olaleye-climate-justice/

This speech was due to take place at the ONCA Climate Justice Education Symposium which was postponed due to the Coronavirus outbreak. If you found this podcast useful and would like to support ONCA’s educational mission, please consider making a donation to ONCA today.  https://onca.org.uk/support/donate/ Thank you!

Fope Olaleye: Building an Anti-Racist Movement for Climate Justice

Susuana Amoah reads to David Blandy the comments from the Guestbook of his ONCA exhibition: Cthuluscene.

The Guestbook | David Blandy & Claire Barrett: Cthuluscene

ONCA is a Brighton based arts charity that bridges social and environmental justice issues. 

Please support us by becoming a member today: https://onca.org.uk/support/members/

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