Play it safe or not? | Roxane Mbanga

About

Join multi-disciplinary artist Roxane Mbanga for an interactive performance workshop exploring racism in everyday scenarios based on Mbanga's book NOIRE.S.

The title of this workshop is inspired by Mitch Kalisa’s award-winning short film Play It Safe (2021), which ingeniously depicts a tense interrogation of unconscious racism in seemingly liberal spaces, this workshop invites participants to explore scenarios of everyday racism.

Together participants will be able to develop mutual understanding of where they speak and experience the world from, recognising the need to be an actor when confronted with injustices, however small they may seem. Mbanga invites participants to explore and question how and when active listening, empathy and denunciation can be applied in our everyday lives, using the medium of acting to both perform prejudice and regain power.

There will be two iterations of this workshop on Saturday 17 September, 11am-1pm and Thursday 13 October, 3-5pm. Capacity is limited to seven people per workshop.

Please note this workshop is aimed towards adults and may not be suitable for young people and children.

Tickets are free, with the option to donate, which helps to support future public programme events at San Mei Gallery.

This workshop has been organised in conjunction with Roxane Mbanga’s exhibition NOIRES, on view at San Mei Gallery between 16 September–15 October 2022. This exhibition and accompanying public programme is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and Fluxus Arts Projects.

Artist biography

Roxane Mbanga (b.1996, Paris) is a Guadeloupean-Cameroonian-French multidisciplinary artist, currently based in Amsterdam. Working at the junction of fashion, film, graphic design, photography, writing, and performance, Mbanga considers herself a storyteller. Through her installations, she highlights perceptions of the self and place of black women in public space. Mbanga studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam. Select recent presentations include: Wearing Your Nudity, TEDx Talk, Amsterdam University College, 2022; I am because you are, Vincent op Vrijdag, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 2022; Workshop Play it safe (or not), Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, 2022; Installation Histoires de femmes, Amsterdam Fashion Week, Amsterdam, 2022.