From the Editor

* MENA Arts UK - which supports arts professionals connected to the Middle East, North Africa and the surrounding areas” says it will "cease all activity" on 24 May, citing challenges enforcing its "values and processes". A report in The Stage says “the group … faced backlash for an ‘ambiguous non-stance on Palestinian liberation’, which the organisation said "jeopardised" its future. MENA Arts statement.

* Tschabalala Self has been chosen as the next artist to have her sculpture, Lady In Blue, installed on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in 2026. The bronze work “pays homage to a young, metropolitan woman of colour inspired by a desire to bring a contemporary ‘everywoman’ to Trafalgar Square.“

Daniel Nelson london.globalevents@gmail.com X: @EventsNelson

TALKS AND MEETINGS

Thursday 25 April

* Abolition is Presence: Mapping the practices and possibilities of border abolition in the UK, Gracie Mae Bradley, Kelsey M,  Azfar Shafi, Nishma Jethwa, 1-2pm online. Info: Migrants in Culture

* The Time is Now: Power, Accountability, and the Fight for Migrant Justice, Shamim Sarabi, Sonali Naik KC, Zehrah Hasan, Narmi Thiranagama, Ali Ghaderi, Diyora Shadijanova, Daniel Trilling, Louis Bxter, 4.30-6.30pm, Info: click here to register.  

* War, Genocide and Other Crimes, Philippe Sands explores topics of justice, international law, human rights and conflict resolution including Sudan, Israel-Gaza and Ukraine, 7-8.15pm, IWM, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ and online. Info: Imperial War Museum

* 20 Years in Afghanistan, Andrew North, 6-7.30pm, £16.80, Ukrainian Cathedral, W1K 5BQ. Info: Frontline

* Casting forward: Configuring development and development studies for troubled times, Ernest Aryeetey, Melissa Leach, Naomi Hossain, Deepak Nayyar, Ian Scoones, Isatou Touray, online, 4-5.30pm. Info  Institute of Development Studies

Friday 26 April

* Art, colonialism and change: symposium, Grace Aneiza Ali, Anna Arabindan-Kesson, Mia L. Bagneris, Clive Chijioke Nwonka, Nika Elder, Zehra Jumabhoy, Erica Moiah James, Elizabeth Robles, Mathura Umachandran, Olu Ogunnaike and Shahzia Sikander, 10am-6pm, £45/£15, Royal Academy, Piccadilly. Info: RA

EXHIBITIONS

* Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King, the life and legacy of the maharaja, 1780-1839, Wallace Collection, Hertford House, Manchester Square, W1 until 20 October. Info: www.wallacecollection.org

+ Ranjit Singh: Sikh, Warrior, King: glittering remnants of empire

* The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, explore the Black figure in Western art history with contemporary African diaspora artists, curated by Ekow Eshun, £16-£18, National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, WC2H 0HE, until 19 May. Info: Portrait Gallery.

+ African diaspora art: from ‘looking at’ to ‘seeing from’

* Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, using textiles, fibre and thread, 50 artists from about 30 countries challenge power structures and reimagine the world, £16, Thursdays 5-8pm, pay what you can, Barbican, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, until 26 May. Info: Barbican

+ Goodbye gentle craft, hello subversive stitch

* Entangled Pasts, 1768-now: Art, Colonialism and Change, “over 100 contemporary and historic works … about art’s role in shaping narratives of empire, enslavement, resistance, abolition and colonialism - and how it may help set a course for the future”, £22, under-16s free, 16-25s half price, Royal Academy, Piccadilly, until 28 April. Info: RA

+ ‘A world of argument and conflict, disagreement and adoration’

* Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2024, shortlisted artists include India-born Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Lebohang Kganye, born in South Africa, and Syria-born Hrair Sarkissdian, Photographer’s Gallery, Ramillies Street, W1 until 2 June. Info: Gallery

+ 15 May, Gill and Vangad discuss their depictions of India, 3-4.30pm, £8/£5

* Burtynsky: Extraction/ Abstraction, largest exhibition of works by the world- renowned photographer featuring large-scale photographs, murals, film and augmented reality, Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, SW3 4RY , until 6 May. Info: https://www.saatchigallery.com/

* The Cult of Beauty, notions of beauty across time and cultures, Wellcome Collection, Euston Road, NW1, until 28 April. Info: Wellcome

* Antelope, Malawian, Oxford-based artist Samson Kambalu’s sculpture on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. Info: Malawian Pan-Africanist the world forgot

* Soulscapes, contemporary retelling of landscape by artists from the African Diaspora, £17.50, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Gallery Road, SE21 7AD, until 2 June. Info: Soulscapes

* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum

* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888

* Between Two Worlds: Vanley Burke and Francis Williams, portraits of two Jamaican gentleman scholars from different centuries, shedding new light on a 1745 painting and inviting reflections on identity and colonial legacies, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: Exhibition

* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage, free, second Saturday of every month, V&A, Cromwell Rod, SW7. Info: V&A tours

* Chá, Chai, Tea, explores stories of the beverage over millennia and connecting communities across the world, free, Horniman Museum, 100 London Road, SE23, until 7 July. Info: Exhibition

* Art Now: Zeinab Saleh, work by Kenyan-born, London-based artist, free, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG, until 23 June. Info: Tate

* Wilfred Ukpong: Niger-Delta / Future-Cosmos, visual meditations on the environmental crisis in the Niger Delta, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 1 June. Info: Autograph

* Monica Alcazar-Duerte: Digital Clouds Don’t Carry Rain, indigenous knowledge, colonial legacy and ecological urgency, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 1 June. Info: Autograph

* Genocidal Captivity: Retelling the Stories of Armenian and Yezidi Women, records of Armenian survivors from the 1920s and recent interviews with Yezidi survivors in Iraq, Wiener Holocaust Library, 29 Russell Square, WC1B 5DP, until 31 May. Info: Wiener Library

* Bamboo as Method, Hong Kong-based Zheng Bo’s garden of 300 bamboos. Visitors can sketch the leaves on biodegradable paper, to be composted to fertilise the garden – completing a cycle of creativity and ecology, Somerset House, The Strand, WC2R 1LA, until  28 April. Info: Somerset House

* Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence, an architectural style that had British colonial beginnings in the 1940s and evolved into a symbol of a postcolonial future in West Africa and India, £14, Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: V&A

+ How sunlight, humidity and independence made a new ism * Post-colonial party pads 

* Heart of the Nation: Migration and the NHS, exhibition, until 27 July. Nowhere to Go but Anywhere, Tribambuka’s solo exhibition on the many meanings of “home”, until 25 May, Migration Museum, Lewisham Shopping Centre, Molesworth Street, SE13. Info: Migration Museum

* Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest, artists include: Laia Abril, Hoda Afshar, Poulomi Basu, Guerrilla Girls, Sofia Karim, Mari Katayama, Sethembile Msezane, Zanele Muholi, Tabita Rezaire, Sheida Soleimani, Tourmaline, free, South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Road, SE5 8UH and Gallery Fire Station, 82 Peckham Road, until 9 June. Info: Gallery

* Performing Colonial Toxicity, maps, photographs, film, stills, documents and archival testimonies documenting France’s secret nuclear programme in Algeria in 1954-62, free, Mosaic Rooms, Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, SW5 0SW, until 16 June. Info: wwwmosaicrooms.org

* Their mouths were full of bumblebees but it was me who was pollinated, Moroccan artist Soufiane Ababri explores questions of desire, queerness, and diaspora and sets out to challenge the dominance of Western narratives in queer history, free, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS until 30 June. Info: Barbican

* Ibrahim Mahama: Purple Hibiscus, 2, 000 square metres of pink and purple fabric woven and hand sewn by hundreds of craftspeople from Tamale in Ghana and embroidered with 100 ‘batakaris’ – robes worn by Ghanaian kings, free, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS, until 18 August. Info: Barbican

* Suspended States, Yinka Shonibare riffs on colonialism’s ecological impact, imperialism's legacy on conflict and peace attempts, Serpentine Galleries, Kensington Gardens, W2 3XA , until 1 September. Info: Serpentine

* Heaven Is Dry, week of projects celebrating Kenyan artist Richard Kimathi including launch of a documentary film and publication, Africa Centre, 66-68 `Great Suffolk Street, SE1 0BL until 28 April. Info: Africa Centre

* Paper Cuts: Art, Bureaucracy & Silenced Histories in Colonial India, collection of works on paper by British colonialists in 19th-century India + contemporary artworks by Ravista Mehra and Divya Sharma, weekdays 10am - 8pm, free, Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck College, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD, until 12 July. Info: Gallery

from Friday 26 April

* Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music, “from letters by 18th-century composer Ignatius Sancho, to glittering props and outfits of glamorous performers, records from the likes of Fela Kuti and Shirley Bassey, and nostalgic videosa of grime’s golden era … a celebration of the trailblazers and innovators that brought new music to the UK, and the layered Black experiences that have birthed a thriving musical culture and history”, British Library, Euston Road, NW1 2DB until 26 August. Info: 500 years of Black British music

ARTS OPPORTUNITIES

* £10,000 is on offer to help transform your short script into a film. There are conditions and a fee, but the fee can be halved if you apply with code RICHMIXHALFPRICE.

* Wanted: dancers of Latinx backgrounds to participate in workshops and perform at Hoxton Hall, east London to tell the story of Latin America's Indigenous communities. Workshops on 11 May and 8 June, weekly evening workshops from September, Hoxton Hall performances 27 November to 1 December.

* the other side of hope: journeys in refugee and immigrant literature invites works in English for publication in print and online. The submissions window is open until 30 April.

* Film Africa, 25 October - 3 November, will present film in London venues You can enter your film now.

* London Film Festival is accepting submissions for UK shorts and features for LFF 2024 in October. Contact lffsubmissions@bfi.org.uk 

* Papatango has launched a digital playwriting course, with tips and insights from top artists.

* Artists and companies “with bold stories to tell” are invited to contact Theatro Technis, which is accepting applications for the Camden Fringe Festival. Email programme@theatrotechnis.com with details of your proposed show, technical requirements and information about you or your company.

* Riverside Studios is offering a regular drop-in playwriting group:  “Whether you’re working on a script and want creative inspiration, you're intrigued by the idea of writing a play, or simply want a creative outlet, these monthly meetups are informal, fun and open to everyone.”

* Are you a writer, director, producer or theatre-maker with a piece of new writing that you’d like to put in front of an audience? This is the place.

* London is to get a memorial to slave trade victims in Docklands. “It is vital that our public spaces reflect the heritage of our great city - in all its diversity and complexity,” said Mayor Sadiq Khan. Public consultation will be followed by a competition for the artist. Unveiling is scheduled for 2026. 

* Sounds Like Home invites women of all backgrounds to celebrate heritage through songs from their native lands, culminating in a choir performance in March. Meet Wednesdays 10.30am -12.30pm. Refreshments and travel costs are provided for those needing assistance. More information here

* Citizens of the World, a choir that grew out of the Calais “Jungle” and has 50 members from 30 countries, welcomes newcomers. It rehearses on Wednesday evenings. Details on the website

* Artists Karen Jelenje and Esther Phillips will lead a hands-on workshop on 25 May, sharing how they incorporate questions of identity, culture and heritage into creative practice. A collaborative artwork will be made, pieces of which will be posted to each participant.