… – then love is the name

Niki Kohandel | 2022 | UK | 7’ | digital | silent

Niki Kohandel’s reflection on education is an ode to the bonds that are formed by students at (and in spite of) the institution they are studying within. By weaving together 16mm footage from the 2021 anti-racist occupation of the Slade School of Fine Art with scenes from the install of the art school’s class of 2020 degree show, the academy emerges as a site of frustration as much as of achievement. Running over both events – from the final touches of varnish being put on a painting to protest banners being unfurled across the building – is text from former Slade student and tutor Christopher Kirubi’s poem ‘… – then love is the name’ from which Kohandel’s film takes its name. 

Sab Changa Si

Teresa A Braggs | 2021 | India | 77’ | digital | English, Urdu, Hindi, Kannada spoken, English subtitles

Shot in Bangalore over the course of 2019-20, Sab Changa Si presents a collective portrait of contemporary Indian youth. Tracking the grassroots protests against the government’s controversial introduction of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Teresa A Braggs’ first-person footage from the frontline of the movement captures the challenges in building solidarity across the nuances of intersectional identity on the street, in student living rooms, and in open assemblies. Set alongside the growing pains of a developing political consensus and personal kinships that navigate a diversity of genders, religions and castes are small moments of defiant joy, where unity can be found

Followed by a conversation with Teresa A Braggs, Niki Kohandel & Shai Heredia