At a time when creative space is scarce, when artists are often expected to define themselves within systems not built for them, and recognising how rare it is to find time, resource and room to create without pressure, In Other Words 3 offers something different.
We’re bringing together 6 artists to share thinking and practices, across two open-ended artist congresses curated and facilitated by artists Alexandrina Hemsley (Yewande 103) and Kate Marsh. During this time each artist is invited to contribute to a collective work, followed by the chance to develop their ideas further.
In Other Words 3 is something open, intimate and responsive, a space for six artists to reflect on their art practice, to be supported and to support one another. A place to breathe, to imagine, and to meet others in solidarity and allyship —acknowledging both what connects us and what makes us unique. Coming together in a facilitated space to collectively and gently explore.
We are delighted to welcome artists, Pierre Babbage, José García Oliva, Lora Krasteva, Loren Mck, Sonny Nwachukwu, and Christopher Samuel.
About In Other Words
n Other Words has been an evolving journey. In Other Words 1 was a collection of urgent reflections, created by 49 artists over four months in 2020 exploring their hopes and fears for the future at the time of a global pandemic. Through prose, poetry, drawing, collage and photography the publication was a clarion call for change from a diverse group rich in wisdom, shared experience, and what it means to be marginalised in the UK.
In Other Words 2 was a continuation of this, inviting co-curators Harold Offeh and Xavier De Sousa and a wider range of international artists to contribute to a publication in 2022. Following numerous lockdowns and continued questions about the future of the arts, it felt even more important to create a second iteration of In Other Words, asking “How are you now?”
When it came to In Other Words 3, it was important to us to gather artists for conversation and connection.
About the Artists
Pierre Babbage
Pierre is a movement artist based in London working around themes of queer history and ancestry, rejection and hope using dance, poetry and film. Their work has been performed across the UK, including presentations at the ICA, V&A Lates, Somerset House, Stanley Arts, CCA Goldsmiths, Ugly Duck & The Place.
They have collaborated & performed for international artists; Anthea Hamilton, Adham Faramawy, Ava Kouchak, Jose Funnell, Sam Williams & Zoë Marden. They are part of Pierre & Baby and co-curate MIND UR HEAD a queer dance party + platform.
José García Oliva
José García Oliva is a Venezuelan artist based in London. His practice is situated at the intersection between migrant labour and the cultural heritage embedded within it, with an emphasis on participatory processes. The outcomes of his work often take the form of traces from participatory performances, ranging from large paintings and sculptures to video works, shaped by the site and people with whom he collaborates. José graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2020 and completed his BA in Fine Arts in Madrid with a mobility grant for low-income students by the Ministry of Education.
Lora Krasteva
Lora is an artist, cultural producer and activist. She creates multi-disciplinary, devised, socially and politically engaged works that connect communities, artists, institutions and decision-makers. One of her latest creative projects, Becoming British, is a six hours durational, task-based performance installation interrogating national identity from the perspective of 1st generation migrants in the UK.
In the past, Lora has worked with Arts & Homelessness International advocating for a place for creativity in homelessness provision and founded Global Voices Theatre, a female, non-binary and immigrant-led company introducing international plays in the UK. Currently, she is a Leadership Group member of What Next?, the UK movement for culture and a founding member of Migrants in Theatre, the movement advocating for a better representation of 1st generation immigrants. Lora lives in Sheffield where, besides her creative practice, she also works as a personal and professional development coach.
Loren Mck
Photo credit: Holly Revell @hollyrevellphotography
Loren McK is an artist and researcher based in South East London. They are invested in community, queerness, and conversation as resources for creative practice and co-creation. With an interest in broadly resourcing themselves and dabbling in art forms Loren’s creative practice moves between words, material and movement. Loren has been a performer in the work of Emilyn Claid, Jay Barnard, Marina Abramović, and in different contexts for Duckie! Their own solo work has dealt with representation, joy, and taking action. As a researcher Loren is specifically interested in archives from the perspectives of queer and disabled artists considering how we write our own histories, remember each other and leave traces.
Sonny Nwachukwu
Sonny Nwachukwu is a multidisciplinary artist and the artistic director of Gateway Arts. Sonny creates socially relevant, innovative, and accessible work that blends movement, text, and immersive storytelling. His work explores themes of family relationships, identity, and life patterns.
Sonny wrote and directed Saturn Returns at the Unlimited Festival (Southbank Centre), which was nominated for a Black British Theatre Award in 2022 and has also worked on productions such as Paradis FIles (Graeae) High Times and Dirty Monsters, the latter winning an Offie Award for Access. His current project, The Nursery, explores fatherhood in the 21st century and the effects of parental neglect.
Rooted in innovation and a commitment to inclusivity, Sonny’s work hopes to challenge traditional forms of theatre.
Christopher Samuel
Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics.
Often echoing the many facets of his own lived experience as a Black disabled man, his work tells stories, highlighting the often unseen experiences of his day to day life and those of others in similar circumstances.
His practice includes small, detailed ink drawings, film, print, audio, research, and large installations. He works alongside galleries, museums, archives and other institutions to address missing representation in our cultural spaces.
In Other Words 3 Curators
Kate Marsh
Kate Marsh is a disabled / crip artist researcher. Assistant professor at C-Dare (centre for dance research at Coventry University). Kate’s practice and research is focused on nurturing spaces for everyone to develop and realise their ideas and practice. She is interested in re-imaging leadership in the arts in a way that truly makes access for everyone.
Yewande103
Yewande 103 was established in summer 2020 by dance artist Alexandrina Hemsley, as a container for their established creative practice and to formalise and expand their values of care, support and connection.
Yewande is Alexandrina’s middle name. It means, ‘mother has returned’. There is a tender determination and commitment to both uphold and further understand intergenerational, cyclical patterns of expression and repair.
