Panel Discussion
A lively and engaging discussion took place on Saturday 22nd October 2022
Venue: 7-11 Market Street, St Leonards, TN38 0DG (where the Art Exhibition was located)
Panel themes:
• Racism and exclusion
• Racial identity
• Creativity as a radical act
• Belonging and community building
• Black joy and play
About Our Panellists
Femi Dawkins
femi-dawkins.com
Femi Dawkins is an independent London and Amsterdam based multi-disciplinary artist from Jamaica. His work focuses on fractured narratives: voicing the unspoken; exposing untruths. Journeying through in-between worlds, his art uproots culturally imposed notions of identity-making; proposing new pathways to evolve from limiting codes. His poignant metaphors are alchemized through drawing, collaging, object-making, installation, music, performance, and writing. He is the joint winner of The Gieskes-Strijbis Podiumprijs 2022.
Sarah Gwonyoma
Having quit a much longed-for career in International Development spanning 20 years, Sarah has followed her passion of reading and created an amazing popular online presence, through her instagram platform, @whatsarahreadnext and is now known as ‘Book Influencer’. With an acute eye for what the hottest books are, Sarah writes brilliant book reviews and has interviewed an array of notable authors on literary circuit; Douglas Stuart, Ruth Ozeki, Annie MacManus and Musa Okwonga. In addition to her interviewing skills, Sarah was recently Guest Speaker at Fearne Cotton’s ‘Happy Place Festival’ and has also been interviewed about her life and work on various platforms.
Dorcas Magbadelo
Dorcas Magbadelo is an illustrator and product designer who creates artwork that centers and celebrates Black women under the brand. Her pieces are vibrant and colourful; capturing Black womanhood and Black girl joy. Largely self-taught with a mission to inspire and empower through her work, taking elements from her Yoruba heritage to create powerful and striking illustrated portraits. Dorcas aims to create artwork that is accessible and relatable; work that sparks joy and makes Black women feel seen and loved.
Maggie Scott (she/her)
maggiescottonline.com
Well-known for her sumptuously crafted felt textiles to wear; her large-scale works draw on the aesthetic and symbolic potential of the process of felting. The hand-felted re-interpretations of photographic images often explore the politics of representation and tensions and contradictions of a Black British or identity.
Born in London, Maggie graduated from St. Martin’s School of Art in 1976 with BA honors in Fashion Textiles and she set up her first studio in London in 1980.
