Programme / black queer nature poem for khadijah (and all of us)
black queer nature poem for khadijah (and all of us)
Location: Scotland; Language: English; Captions: English
This film was commissioned by Fringe of Colour for the online arts festival Fringe of Colour Films 2021, and is inspired by conversations creator Mae Diansangu had with Khadijah, a Black queer Muslim. In their explorations, Khadijah disclosed that one of the places they feel most comfortable and themself is out in nature. This caused Diansangu think about how Black people do not really fit into people's perception of nature lovers, which creates a kind of tension between "nature" (whatever that concept actually means) and Blackness.
Queerness is still viewed by many as "against nature" and Blackness, too, has also been treated as outside of nature (or conversely we are TOO close to nature, in a way that is considered animalistic or savage). Diansangu wanted to reclaim this narrative and create a love poem to both nature and Black queerness; how our bodies have the right to exist in natural landscapes, and how we are one of nature's greatest achievements.
The poem is to and for Khadijah, and includes references to our conversations and their own poetry, but it is also addressed to the collective we: Black queer people everywhere who are a beautiful phenomenon of the natural world.
Credits
Filmed, performed and edited by Mae Diansangu
Featuring Khadijah Salihu
Sound effects by www.epidemicsound.com
Additional film editing by Tao-Anas Le Thanh
Captions by Sarya Wu
Read Response
Response coming soon
In the meantime, why not check out the Responses from last year’s festival?
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About the Artist
Mae Diansangu (She/They) is a Black queer spoken word artist, writer and performer from Aberdeen. They are the co-founder of Hysteria, an arts platform that showcases women, non-binary and gender marginalised creatives. Their work has been published by 404 ink Magazine and they have been awarded commissions from the National Library of Scotland and StAnza. Mae is part of a network of Black community activists organising under BLM Scotland. Their work often centres on social justice themes.
