Jenni Ramone is Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Global Literatures at NTU, where she directs the Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group. She is also managing editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing. Her forthcoming book is Global Literature and Gender: Twenty-First Century Perspectives, and recent books include Postcolonial Literatures in the Local Literary Marketplace: Located Reading, and The Bloomsbury Introduction to Postcolonial Writing. Her current project is on breastfeeding in literature and art.

Onyeka Igwe is a London-born and based moving image artist and researcher.

Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity.

Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories.

She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.

Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.

Onyeka Igwe is a London born, and based, moving image artist and researcher. Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity. 

Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories. She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.

Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.

Onyeka Igwe is a London-born and based moving image artist and researcher.

Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity.

Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories.

She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.

Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.

Elaine Lillian Joseph is an audio describer based in London and Birmingham. She has a BA in Modern Languages (German) and English Literature and trained as a describer at ITV under Jonathan Penny. She is a founding member of SoundScribe, a global majority collective of audio describers and consultants and a member of Collective Text, an organisation supporting accessibility in art and film through creative captioning, audio description and interpretation. The question that galvanises her practice is how can we honour the labour of access work and create a service that powerfully resonates with users? Collaboration and anti-discrimination activism is key to her work.

A selection of recently completed projects include Eve Stainton’s Impact Driver at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in London, an online screening of Hofesh Shechter’s Political Mother and a newly commissioned audio described track for Black Audio Film Collective’s Handsworth Songs.

As an artist and educator, Shannon Thomson‘s current body of work delves into the intricate relationship between pedagogy and creative expression, shedding light on the transformative power of arts education. 

Thomson’s work currently draws inspiration from art school archives, most recently Birmingham School of Art. 

Through examining archival material, Thomson seeks to unravel the complex narrative of educational systems and their influence on shaping artistic identity. 

A Microsoft Word version of this information, including floor plan of space is available to download here.

Accessibility Guidance

This accessibility guidance was written in collaboration with Onyeka Igwe, Bonington Gallery and Collective Text.

Exhibition Information

history is a living weapon in yr hand is captioned and audio described. The two-channel film in the exhibition has animated captions which include sound descriptions.

There is an audio described introduction to the exhibition that can be accessed here.

There is an audio described introduction accompanied by imagery from the exhibition that can be accessed here.

At the gallery, audio description can be accessed via radio frequency headsets with two channels. A switch beside the volume slider enables you to flick between channel 1 which plays the audio described introduction linked above and channel 2 which plays the exhibition audio description synced to the film and props. There will be two listening stations for audio description, at the front entrance to the right of the stairs and at the back of the gallery next to the accessible lift entrance. An invigilator will provide you with headphones, you can remain at these listening stations or can be assisted to the viewing benches in front of the screens by an invigilator. There are tactile pathway guidelines that direct you to the props in the exhibition, assistance can also alternatively be provided by an invigilator.

Please note that the exhibition space is dark. The film and/or spotlights are the primary light source. Sound plays in the space at a high volume. Let us know in advance if you require the room to be brighter or a lower volume.

The props in the exhibition are illuminated by a timed lighting system. Each prop has a distinct lighting colour and is accompanied by the sound “ACTION” which is captioned on the screens the first time it happens in the sequence, afterwards you are encouraged to move around the space.

The total running time of the exhibition is 32 minutes. There will be large print exhibition guides available through the invigilators.

The gallery is wheelchair accessible. General Access Information for the gallery is available here

For any additional questions or access needs contact Tom Godfrey: tom.godfrey@ntu.ac.uk

Onyeka Igwe is a London-born and based moving image artist and researcher.

Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity.

Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories.

She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.

Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.

Peer is a not-for-profit free-to-access space for contemporary art, located in the neighbourhood of Hoxton in East London. They place artists, young people and local communities at the heart of their internationally recognised programmes of public exhibitions held in their street-facing gallery, an ongoing series of workshops, talks and events, as well as offsite artist commissions produced in the local area.