‘All About Love’ is part of BUILDHOLLYWOOD’s ongoing Your Space Or Mine initiative, which gives artists and creatives across the UK a unique platform to present their work outdoors and connect with communities across our cities. The point of departure for this new project is a quote from All About Love, the groundbreaking book published in 2000 by cultural critic, feminist theorist and author bell hooks.
Between 28 – 30 April the billboard takeover launches in Birmingham with a new commission from renowned British-Kenyan artist and fellow Brummie Grace Ndiritu.
Ndiritu’s commission, Grief: A Love Letter (2023), is inspired by a love letter written to her mother and one of her favourite artists Mike Kelley, which explores themes of death, motherhood, and the ambiguity of race/class/gender, issues which were all deeply embedded in bell hooks’ own writing.
A personal and tender quote taken from Ndiritu’s letter Wherever you are I hope you have found peace will be used on the billboard, overlaid on a background image which is part of Ndiritu’s exploration into the aesthetics of consumerism and nature. The work will be presented on 30 billboards across the city, including sites in the Custard Factory, the Old Crown, Anchor Digbeth, Floodgate Street, and Barford Street.
On Saturday 29 April from 12pm at Digbeth Art Space join Ndiritu and 10 other Birmingham-based artists and writers, as they perform and read about Grief and Love.
Performing artists and writers include Alisha Samms, Brenda Hickin, Izzy McEvoy, Jaz Morrison, Kalyan Largie, Leah Hickey, Samiir Saunders, Hassan Ul-Haq, Annabel Pettigrew, Fatima Diriye, and Lara Beaseley. The event will also feature guest contributions by Tasneim Zyada, Jo Mason, and Nicola Small.
Please note the sensitive nature of the material being read.
The event is free, but booking is essential.
Contact brenda.hickin@mac.com for any questions about ‘All About Love’ or ‘Grief: A Love Letter’.
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Grace Ndiritu’s artworks are concerned with the transformation of our contemporary world, through her films, photography, paintings, and social practice projects with refugees, migrants, and indigenous groups. She is the winner of the Jarman Film Award 2022 in association with Film London. Her mid-career survey entitled Healing the Museum runs from 1 April to 10 September 2023 at SMAK, Ghent. You can also see the major new collection show she has curated at Foto Museum of Antwerp entitled Grace Ndiritu Reimagines The FOMU Collection from 17 February until 2024.
All About Love is commissioned by BUILDHOLLYWOOD and is curated by Zarina Rossheart.