Paper short abstract:

Progress is a new project curated by Jeffrey Lennon to establish a platform for the curation of an international programme of work that interprets culture and heritage through artbased interventions inviting reflections on race, politics, gender, social commentary, and history.

Paper long abstract:

Progress

Jeffrey Lennon, African Street Style, London

This initiative produces a programme of sensitive, considered and new material, reflecting and contextualizing the challenges and preoccupations of both displeasure and resilience that the diaspora have been facing on their journey outside the African continent.The project is set within two phases, covering the activities of 1968, and 2020.

Working alongside Decolonising the Archive and Imigongo Films, and supported by British Council and Arts Council England, ‘Progress(1968)’ established a multi-faceted platform, using this period as its reference point to commission artists, academics, and interview members of the public to create new art interventions which reflect the examination of a time period of considerable social and political significance for the African diaspora. We collated views and experiences from this time of social unrest in the cities of London; Kingston, Paris, Rio as well as the Biafra region and Guinea Bissau.

This first phase of the project was launched in London (Brixton), October 2019, as an immersive public arts installation.

Progress2020 continues the programme, aiming to capture the current experience, with specific examinations of duality, gender, as well as assessments of the ongoing legacy of colonialism. We are working with associates and artists in the cities of Bremen, Kingston, Maputo, and Bologna, responding to our intention of assessing experiences within both capital and smaller cities, to capture the various experiences encountered by a global diaspora