Who Took These? Photography as participatory politics in Rhodes Must Fall Oxford: Closing Panel
Please join us for a closing discussion for the exhibition ‘Who Took These?’, including the photographer Jacqueline Otagburuagu and Dr Emily Brady (Broadbent Fellow at Christ Church).
In 2015, when a group of Black students founded Rhodes Must Fall Oxford, they catalysed a process of change that has challenged not only the university but the media and political establishment of the UK to reckon with racism and Britain’s empire. Even as Oriel College still refuses to take down the statue of Cecil Rhodes, RMF has led the move to overhaul curricula in several departments, documented systemic racism at Oxford, and built intersectional solidarities with feminist, trans, and indigenous movements. Through an exhibition of Jacqueline Otagburuagu’s photographs, accompanied by Tadiwa Madenga’s writing and co-curated with Athinangamso Esther Nkopo, we seek to highlight the passion and care through which RMF’s activists constructed spaces of dissent, protest, and solidarity. Otagburuagu’s photographs may be familiar to viewers from social media, where they circulated widely, typically without credit. Madenga’s narrative contextualises the photos, drawing the viewer’s eye to the relations of care and friendship, visceral feelings of passion and hope, and everyday emotional labour that undergirded what became a nationally significant social movement.
The event will include the culmination of the schools’ photography competition, where the three prize-winners and teachers from their schools will meet Jacqueline Otagburuagu, and be given the opportunity to discuss their own photos, as well as seeing the exhibition.
Date:
9 November 2022, 15:30 (Wednesday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2022)
Venue:
Wadham College, Parks Road OX1 3PN
Venue Details:
Seminar Rooms 4&5. The rooms are accessible via a lift from the ground floor, which is step-free.
Speakers:
Jacqueline Otagburuagu,
Dr Emily Brady (University of Oxford)
Organising department:
The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)
Organisers:
Sneha Krishnan (Associate Professor of Human Geography, Oxford),
Jane Garnett (Wadham College)
Organiser contact email address:
rozen.whitworth@merton.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
Photography as participatory politics: feminist anti-racism in Rhodes Must Fall
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://torch.ox.ac.uk/event/who-took-these-closing-panel-discussion
Cost:
Free
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Rozen Whitworth
