Greetings from

This summer school uses the River Thames and other bodies of water as a point of departure for a decolonised reimagining of our cities and their potential futures. It will be participatory and generative, culminating in an exhibition/presentation that explores
how socially-engaged art practices provoke awareness of our cities and their connections.

This three-week summer school will use the Thames as a starting point for a decolonised reimagining of our
cities’ potential. Students will engage in practical skill-sharing workshops exploring interconnections between movement/temporality, translation/language, and past/present. Participatory and generative, the programme will culminate in an exhibition or presentation exploring how socially engaged art provokes awareness of the fluidity of city spaces.

Greetings from:

the boundaries have kept you safe
for far too long now my child
break free, o’ weathered soul
from the words that tie you down

to books curated by people
who look so different from yours
who said your history was myth
and fiction as they weren’t in record

lost in this urban whirlwind
you are a marker wherever you go
for a land once fallen prey
to the predator of a man’s ego

they gather at the grave of your history
and announce their dedication to revival
but flimsy is all it really is
built on shallow understandings of themselves

dark and overwhelming
your crisis of identity may be
but watch how your leaves grow
they appear once you start to believe

believe in a world of change
despite it not being there yet
plant that root of trust
that we will eventually succeed

come, and join us all
hand in hand we shall stand
a common goal to unite the seven
continuous masses of land

take charge of the history we tell
take back power that doesn’t belong
erase all your misgivings
of race, religion, and all

forget uniformity, forget singularity
intertwined, we reach for each other
for we are many layers
a formation of one humanity

the sun sets, and colours bathe our world
a cohesive clash of embroidery
from the fabric
we have mended and sewn

Text by Nahdra Hasri