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[samramayanja]

My film scripted for a wayward narrator was screened at London Short Film Festival, curated by the wonderful Anuka from F(r)ictions. 

I couldn’t make it but my sisters and mum went and they couldn’t stop talking about the programme!

[Image is a still from the film]

[samramayanja]

And a letter to Ray

[samramayanja]

Black Cultural Archives Residency Curated by Languid Hands - 09/2020 

Three stories written during a residency at the Black Cultural Archives, London. 

Available to read here with my images: https://www.bcaexhibits.org/samramayanja and highlighted by Tatler here: https://www.tatler.com/gallery/best-o...

[samramayanja]

full disclosure

When the fire starts to burn, and it starts to spread

The heat catches silver in each corner of the land’s spread

.

Never take no hold in this spread

When the horizon slides grip on you, collapse and spread

.

Break the life of the tide and let it spread

For miles we know nothing, grand spread

.

“Red in all the rooms” they shout, even when night curtain has spread

Beat beat bash in this fanned spread

.

You temper me, contain me, fear me, Fire, I spread

We, the lost voice, a band. Spread.

[samramayanja]

obsessed! https://www.instagram.com/p/CSmEr6GMRirX0DeyCWWv4RNdMpwahAN8p9aN-40/?utm_medium=tumblr

[samramayanja]

I forgot my body over there is an exhibition of new works made by artist samra mayanja. 

This show is born out of the artist’s movement towards automatic and intuitive methods of working with materials and objects that she has collected. These methods have been a way of entering their tangible and intangible layers through the fingers, hands, palms, muscles and sensation. 

samra mayanja is an artist and writer, who has been temporarily based in Longformacus (Duns, Scotland) for an artist residency. Her work is concerned with what moves us and what it is to be moved. Spanning drawing+writing, performance and film, her work is an effort to commune disparate voices; to generate around and beyond what’s inconceivable, lost or arrives in tatters. 

I forgot my body over there will be exhibited at Longformacus Village Hall from Saturday 21st - Saturday 28th August in conjunction with a programme of events (below):

Access: 

Please email samramayanja@gmail.com to confirm you place at any of these events (below) and feel free to contact her if you have any questions.

Visual Aids: There will be a visual description to accompany the exhibition for those who are visually impaired and/or anyone that would like to use it. 

Captioning: All sound and video works will include a transcript and/or subtitling.

Covid: We kindly ask that you adhere to social distancing and covid guidelines whilst in the space. Much appreciated!

Address: Longformacus Village Hall, Duns Road, Duns, TD11 3PB

Longformacus Village Hall is accessible to wheelchair users.

Events: (Further details below)

Opening Talk

Saturday 21st Aug, 11:00 - 12:00

Film: Two Melons and a Stinking Fish (1996) by Vanessa Engle 

Weds 25th Aug, 19:00 - 20:00

CHILDREN'S DAY!

Thursday 26th Aug, 12:00 - 15:00

Closing Performance - samra mayanja and S O C K E T H E A D 

Friday 27th Aug @ Sunset 

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Opening Talk - Saturday 21st Aug, 11:00 - 12:00

Join us for the opening where samra mayanja will give a short introductory talk about her art practise, the exhibition and her residency research. Refreshments provided. 

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Film Screening - Weds 25th Aug, 19:00 - 20:00

Two Melons and a Stinking Fish (1996) by Vanessa Engle

This rarely seen film is the first documentary about British conceptual artist, Sarah Lucas. In this experimental portrait, filmmaker Vanessa Engle, documents both Lucas’ artistic process and the art world context that she makes within. 

Film length: 60mins

Language: English (subtitled)

Sarah Lucas has, over the course of two decades, become recognised as one of Britain’s most significant contemporary artists. Spanning sculpture, photography and installation, her work has consistently been characterised by irreverent humour and the use of everyday ‘readymade' objects – food, tights, toilets, cigarettes – to conjure up corporeal fragments. 

Vanessa Engle began her career at the BBC where she made sixty documentaries spanning the realms of contemporary art and popular music. Since this early part of her career Engle has since made many celebrated documentaries investigating social affairs. In November 2015, Engle received the Outstanding Contribution to Documentary award at the Aldeburgh Documentary Festival.

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CHILDREN'S DAY! - Thursday 26th Aug, 12:00 - 15:00

After the ‘Ready Steady Explore Toddler Group’ in the hall, the exhibition will be open to parents and children of all ages so that they can explore the space; be curious, make sounds together and chat to the artist if they like. 

Children are welcome on all other days but Thursday is for children and parents only. Woooo!! Activity sheets to take home will be provided also. 

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Closing Performance - Friday 27th Aug @ Sunset 

by samra mayanja and S O C K E T H E A D

In the final event collaborators in life, art and love, samra mayanja and artist S O C K E T H E A D, will share a sonic improvisation; a dialogue between voice, instruments and the exhibition.

Instruments include: Adungu (Ugandan harp), electronic drums, delay and reverb.

S O C K E T H E A D is an artist working across the mediums of painting, collage and sound. He uses found internet media, live instrumentation and field recordings as a vehicle to get closer to some open ended space. S O C K E T H E A D’s palette of sounds are shredded/torn/stretched and re-homed in his compositions. His process is grounded in a conversation between analogue and digital technologies that attempt to stitch together parallel memories of religion and contemporary culture.

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[samramayanja]

Queer B-Cademy: samONE samTWO process-in-progress from Kampnagel on Vimeo.

[samramayanja]

AIMS OF ART (2020)

TALK DELIVERED AT UP PROJECTS EVENT - APRIL 2021 (here)

‘WHAT IS COLLABORATION?’

CHAIRED BY MATTEO LUCCHETTI

ME AND KERRY CAMPBELL SHARING THOUGHTS

thank you to my friend Jocelyn McGregor for making this happen!

[samramayanja]

watching a talk where Rashid Johnson, who’s work I saw at the Henry Moore Institute for the first time perhaps two-ish years ago —— basically he’s making a distinction between a ‘found object’ and one that is ‘looked for’. some objects are sought after and then tangential journeys lead us to other places, but by Rashid Johnson’s logic ‘we are looking’. Anyways, today researching legendary Ugandan poet Timothy Wangusa’s work and came across this edition of Prism Journal in which his poem’s ‘A Taxi Driver on His Death Bed’ and ‘Regression’ appear. But, as I was scrolling down to get to page 86 (the start of Timothy Wangusa’s writing) I saw a poem called ‘Ten Lines for My Black Wife’ that instantly got my attention. The poem, that I’m open to and trying to reflect on, is written by Paul Theroux. He spent many years living in East Africa, and this is also the place he met Anne Castle - who I got muddle up with Margaret Trowell (either the founder of or key proponent in establishing the first European style Art College in Uganda). Paul Theroux is also father of British-documentarian Louis Theroux. Any thoughts on these poems are welcome but it’s mainly an offering from a different time https://www.instagram.com/p/COYcweRl_KaZE5cTm8au2fKqIWhEm3tJxca6Mo0/?igshid=ccqt8190m48f

[samramayanja]

Link to full publication here - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b3-OU7LjyWt4rHf8Qn_T4uvWFnbiNt8y/view?usp=sharing

[samramayanja]

Image 1] Excerpt from longer text that I read at South London Gallery event Conch on my work-in-progress ‘BLUEPRINT: FOR THE DEEP’

Image 2] Excerpt from the transcript to the film that I’m thinking of as a score in a way - perhaps.

Image 3] Cover by my art uncle, George Hallet. And includes the play ‘Family Spear’ by Elvania Zirimu Namukwaya - that is a focal point/voice in the work.

Link to G-Drive with full texts to follow.

[samramayanja]

“perpetual state of mournin and funeral for lost celluoid - lost culture”

“a lab for dealing with older material” - I’m thinking specifically about how this isn’t the case in Africa and that’s truly upsetting when thinking about the power dynamics involved in restoration/exhibition or early work.

“otherwise we will never have a sense of ourselves”

[samramayanja]

Note to self:

Una Sola Sangre

Esery Mondesir