Mondays, 15 September to 13 October at 18.30–20.00 BST (with exception to the final session, which will be until 20.30)
This online course explores the relationship between photography, music and the Black experience beginning with the work of Dennis Morris. With particular focus on his landmark series Growing Up Black, we examine how images have captured, shaped and challenged representations of Britishness, cultural memory and musical subcultures across the decades.
Rather than aiming to define "Black British identity", this course interrogates the instability of such terms. It approaches image-making and preservation as a site of refusal, memory-work and rebellion. Blending archival inquiry, critical theory and creative practice, we will look at how photography and sound function as tools of resistance, futurity and storytelling in the face of erasure.
Guided by an anti-disciplinary approach, the course invites participants to move between theory, oral history, sonic response and visual experimentation — drawing from HOUSE OF DREAD's methodology of working across, beyond and outside conventional disciplinary boundaries.
Writers, theorists and photographers who will be covered include Tina M. Campt, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, Julian Henriques and Dennis Morris.
Led by curator and public historian Dr Aleema Gray (HOUSE OF DREAD).
Course format
Taking place weekly over Zoom, all sessions will consist of a blend of slide-based lectures and guest speakers, followed by discussion.
Who is this for?
Open to all who are interested in photography, sound and art, particularly those with a growing interest in history, archives and critical theory. No prior knowledge necessary.
Details on how to access the sessions will be confirmed upon registration. Please check your junk folders if you haven't received an email from TPG staff confirming your place.
Schedule
Growing Up Black: The Image as Archive on Mon 15 Sep at 18.30-20.00 BST
This session focuses on Growing Up Black, offering a critical reading of Dennis Morris’ photographs and situating them within their historical, social and emotional contexts. Together, we explore how images function as both social documents and living, evolving archives. We also examine the tensions between representation, gaze and lived experience
We will be discussing the work of Stuart Hall, bell hooks, Dennis Morris, Hammond Kennetta Perry and Lisa Amanda Palmer.
Sound + Style: Subculture as Survival on Mon 22 Sep at 18.30-20.00 BST
This week traces connections between subculture, resistance and imagination. We examine how Black youth have used music and style to assert identity and reclaim space. We also explore cross-generational parallels (from rude boys to punks to lovers rock) and consider how these scenes shape collective and individual modes of survival.
We will look at the work of Dick Hebdige, Stuart Hall & Tony Jefferson, Ernest Cashmore & Barry Troyna, William Lez Henry, Horace Campbell and Mykaell Riley.
The Photograph as Sound: Reasoning with the Image on Mon 29 Sep at 18.30-20.00 BST
Here we experiment with listening to photographs as carriers of sound, spirit and memory. We Interrogate how sonic elements and oral traditions live within images, and reflect on methods of engaging with photographs – foregrounding listening, dialogue and embodied memory as critical tools.
We will look at the work of Tina M Campt, Ato Quayson and Julian Henriques.
Work in Progress on Mon 6 Oct at 18.30-20.00 BST
In this session, guest speaker artist Dr Nathaniel Telemaque gives insight into their work, providing opportunity for participants to engage directly with a creative process, learning more about projects in development, and wider issues and themes within a contemporary Black photographic practice. Together we will explore and discuss the value of failure, messiness and emergence as part of the artist process.
Burning Babylon: Counter-Archives + Fugitive Memory on Mon 13 Oct at 18.30-20.30 BST
In our final session we examine counter-archives. How do they disrupt dominant narratives and institutional memory? This session looks at creative strategies for working with absence and silence. We consider creative practice as an act of care, resistance and world-making.
There will also be space to return to the course's central provocations and share personal and collective responses. We will reflect together on the role of the imagination in sustaining cultural memory and opening new ideas for future thinking.
We will look at the work of Robin Kelly, Ruth Brown, Fred Moten & Stefano Harney, Aleema Gray, King Tiffany Lethabo and Banor Hesse.
Full schedule and reading list
Biography
Dr Aleema Gray is an award-winning Jamaican-born curator, researcher and public historian based in London. She was awarded the Yesu Persaud Scholarship for her PhD entitled "Bun Babylon; A Community-engaged History of Rastafari in Britain". Aleema’s practice is driven by a concern for more historically contingent ways of understanding the present, especially in relation to notions of belonging, memory, and contested heritage in the African and Caribbean diaspora. She was the Lead Curator for Beyond the Bassline: 500 years of Black British Music at the British Library and the founder of HOUSE OF DREAD, an anti-disciplinary heritage studio dedicated to preserving and activating African and Caribbean lived experiences across the diaspora.
Bursaries
A number of partial bursaries covering 50 per cent of course fees will be awarded on a first come basis. Applicants who wish to be considered for a partial bursary should submit a statement (max. 500 words) to projects@tpg.org.uk, outlining how the course Sonic Memory and Black Image-Making would contribute to their professional development. Successful applicants will be notified within a week of submission.
We actively encourage applications from groups who are currently underrepresented in the cultural sector in the UK. This includes people who identify as D/deaf, disabled* and neurodivergent; those with caring responsibilities; candidates from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds; and arts and culture professionals whose career development has been negatively impacted by Covid-19, prioritising independent artists, freelancers and those made redundant/at risk of redundancy since 2020.
*The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Sharing that you are disabled will not be used in any way in judging the quality of your application.
Details on how to access this event will be confirmed upon registration. Please check your junk folders if you haven't received an email from TPG staff confirming your place.
Ticketing
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