This page features the readings for this evening’s gatherings, for those who wish to follow along.Starry nights: the evolution of our tent - by Azeezat JohnsonBlack Presence: A Gathering of Words - by Black GEMS (Azeezat Johnson, Francesca Sobande, Katucha Bento) Plain text version A Promise Azeezat JohnsonI promise to not quit on myself.To remember that I'm Azeezat Johnson, and I've come so far, done so much.I give so much…
ASRA Club, founded by GEM member Sahra-Isha, is "a community space centring Muslim women in sports, wellness and sisterhood". Given the group's foundational aims of creating an inclusive environment of care and community, it is angering and upsetting that they are still faced with the forms of violence and harm described in their statement below. We note also that whilst the incidents described below involved various forms of Islamophobic, racist and…
Migrant and Anti-Racist Community Groups in Britain:Stop the ethnic cleansing in Palestine, and end Britain's colonial complicity in crimes against the Palestinian peopleWe are writing, as Black, brown, migrant and racialised groups in Britain, united in our shared struggle for justice and freedom, to demand an immediate end to the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, unrestricted humanitarian access and an end to the British complicity making Israel’s war crimes possible. We…
GEM Collective stands in full and unequivocal solidarity with the people of Palestine - we call for an immediate ceasefire, an end to Israeli State occupation, and a liberated Palestine.Read our full statement, with a list of readings and resources, in our newsletter section here.
“Our home-making practice is about being loved for who we are, who we’ve been, and the endless possibilities of who we might be. It is us sitting in the knottedness of our embodied geographies with the care and love that we deserve.”We are happy to announce that How We Build Home will be re-opening at Museum of the Home on Wednesday 26th October. After a long closure due to flooding…
SLRA Women's Group + Quilt [image courtesy of SLRA] A large-scale patchwork quilt by the South London Refugee Association’s Women Group is on display at Museum of the Home as part of GEM's How We Build Home project. The quilt is accompanied by a zine featuring interviews, photographs and poetry. Between April 2020 and July 2021, the group met weekly online to support and care for each other, be creative…
Listen to this post here I was introduced to this film scene from X-Men: Days of Future Past by Azeezat, and have been stuck on the song lyrics ever since. Time, the passage of it, the lack of it, the desire for more, is a constant stream of thought underlying my days; 'managing' my time, and accepting the lack of it, both on a personal and wider scale, feels like…
This was meant to be a foreword for your book, addressed to readers; but as I kept rewriting and reworking, I realised that I needed to write these words out directly to you now, rather than prepping them for others to read and engage with. I deserve to celebrate you; and you deserve to be celebrated unabashedly m'dear.I remember us having a conversation about a call for artists working on/around…
Listen to the essay here (also available through Apple, Google or Spotify) Starry nights in Edinburgh, by Wasi Daniju We were tired of waiting for justice or care, tired of having to face interconnected brutalities alone. For me - and I think for all of us - GEM was about creating a home where we could speak from our bodies, and tend to the wounds that we are told to…