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A double bill of performance: a screening of Alberta Whittle's performance DIS- A lesson in Reversal or Unlearning, hosted at Two Temple Place in July 2021; and the debut screening of Wanja Kimani's newly commissioned performance in response to Maud Sulter's work.

Alberta Whittle's performance aimed to present history as a communal action and responsibility and develop new ways to think about congregation, contestation and belonging. It incorporated sound and movement focusing on ideas of rebellion, love and oceans.

Wanja Kimani's performance responds to Maud Sulter's photo-collage series Syrcas (1993), in which she used vintage postcards depicting vast, rural landscapes in Europe and placed images from books on African art and European painting. The resulting images represent the presence of Africa in Europe, often highlighting the contribution of black women. Enacted within woodland, Kimani's performance is a reflection of the process of unlearning. It encompasses ritual and objects that reframe the Black female body in relation to spirit and rural space.

The screenings will be followed by a Q&A with Wanja Kimani.

Wanja Kimani is a visual artist and researcher based in Cambridgeshire, UK. Through performance, film, textiles and installation, her work explores memory through the body and the fluidity within social structures designed to care and protect, which mutate into coercive forces within society. She imposes elements of her own life into public spaces, creating a personal narrative where she is both author and character. In 2018, her performance, ‘Expectations,’ was included in the Laboratoire Agit’Art presentation during the Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art. In 2019, she presented her work at Art Dubai and as part of a group show, ‘Yesterday is Today’s Memory,’ at Espace Commines, Paris, France. She is a PhD Candidate at Chelsea College of Arts, London and a Research Assistant at the School of Arts and Cultures at Newcastle University.