Mettle and might: celebrating women

From Li Tingting to Sylvia Rivera; Oodgeroo Noonuccal to Emma Goldman; Nisha Ayub to Grace Lee Boggs; and from Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (also known as Bamewawagezhikaquay) to Jayaben Desai: there are innumerable women whose names, works and legacies deserve far broader recognition year-round. But International Women’s Day provides an opportunity to acknowledge the women in our lives—and those who laid the foundations, then built the scaffolding, for a more equitable and inclusive society.

This year, we’re honouring 8 March with a series of interviews with contemporary creatives whose work explores diverse experiences of womanhood across a range of disciplines—poet and writer Theresa Lola, artist June Canedo de Souza, and DJ and broadcaster Zakia Sewell.

Theresa Lola’s poetry dissects the complexity of human relationships and what it means to live as a young woman in the digital age. Her debut collection, In Search of Equilibrium, published in February 2020, was described as ‘breathtaking’ by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo (whose own Girl, Woman, Other has been passed between the hands of many Aesop staff). Given our long-standing passion for literature and storytelling, it was a pleasure to speak with Theresa and learn more about her work.

Can you introduce the work and what inspired its creation? My poem was partly inspired by one of my favourite poems by Lucille Clifton titled ‘won’t you celebrate with me’, which ends with the damning lines ‘come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed’. I wanted to write a poem that primarily focused on the act(s) of celebration itself, not just for the individual women, but as a collective. I wanted to build the world of a rebellious and constant celebration from the start. Hence the repetition of the word ‘celebrate’. When creating, do you have a daily practice, and how do you know when a work is complete? I usually read or listen to music before I write, just to be in a space of appreciating the power of art. There is this incredulous moment of peace I feel when a work is completed.  Through which sense do you experience the world most acutely? I tend to experience the world through sight and sound. Growing up wearing glasses I would be obsessed with what I could or couldn’t see clearly, and I think that’s inspired my work. And I always loved music, and so always listen out for what is harmonising and what is not.  Is there a particular woman who has inspired you and/or your work? I owe my love for language to many women. Lucille Clifton, Ruth Stone, Patricia Smith, and Mary Oliver. 

Theresa Lola is a British Nigerian poet and writer. She was appointed as the 2019–2020 Young People’s Laureate for London. She was joint winner of the 2018 Brunel International African Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the 2017 Bridport Poetry Prize. Her debut poetry collection In Search of Equilibrium (2018) about grief, faith and isolation is published by Nine Arches Press and is praised as ‘a glorious hymn to being alive and wounded’ by Pascale Petit. In April 2018 she was invited by the Mayor of London’s Office to read a commissioned poem at the unveiling of Millicent Fawcett’s statue. She has held poetry residencies at Wellcome Collection, St Paul’s Cathedral and Bethlem Museum of the Mind. She was featured in the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, recognised as one of the Forces for Change by guest editor Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle. Author photo: Clint419

Witnessing

And we celebrate surviving, and we celebrate the wildly sacred event of celebrating, and we celebrate for the sake of remembering how to celebrate for that too is a kind of survival. And we celebrate the unfettered riff of our womanhood, we celebrate ourselves for that too is a necessary kind of self-care. And when we dance we hold each other’s graceless grace, glide and burst our bodies through spaces we once couldn’t dare rest our fingers in. Our flaming joints reintroduce themselves as something glowing. We sing the word equal, quell the cut of its silence. Come witness a movement that is moving. We hold different ways of celebrating, embrace even those quieter shifts. Whether it’s spilling calm sighs during the soft knead of a balm into face. Or feeling the quirky stir of the wind on our face as we take a walk. Or turning the tensile pages of a book we gush our stories of women into. We form only fervent joys swinging at the centre of our gut. Attempts to quench our celebrations persist, so we slip on vigilance as we celebrate.

Photographer June Canedo de Souza interrogates the adage about the political and the personal, examining the emotional and psychic side of the immigrant experience. Her first book, mara kuya, was published in 2020, and tells the story of her own family: separated by citizenship status, living between Brazil and South Carolina. Here, June speaks with us about the recurring themes of her work, including women’s care-work (chiefly, cultural preservation and the transmission of intergenerational knowledge), and shares portraits from Diža' No'ole—the result of a collaboration with Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo (CIELO), a support service for undocumented Indigenous people in the Los Angeles area. 

Please introduce the works and their inspiration. A recurring theme in both books is women's care-work. I am interested in questions around women’s care-work, how to measure the contributions of women in regard to cultural preservation and the passing of intergenerational knowledge. I am thinking about this specifically within the context of the immigrant/migrant experience. The books are not necessarily about women’s care-work, but it is something that binds both books and a recurring theme within my practice. Do you have a daily creative practice? How do you know when a work is ‘done’? Reading, exercise, meditation and spending time alone in nature are integral elements to my practice. I feel most connected to my ideas and confident in my ability to create objects from these ideas when I have the time to do those things without any rush. Having the time to intellectualise, research, and dream is a privilege I do not take for granted.  Through which sense do you experience the world most acutely? My family moved every year for most of childhood and adolescence so my association to home isn't a physical space, but the textures, colours, sounds, and smells that we would carry with us from one apartment to the next. My senses are memory tools, they are helping me repair and reshape the things that have been lost in the process of migration. I am finding it very difficult to choose just one. Is there a particular woman who has inspired you and/or your work? All of the women in my family work very hard to keep our family connected. The experience of migration is one of rupture, and without their care we wouldn't survive it. They inspired everything that I do.

June Canedo de Souza is an artist based in between New York and Los Angeles. She was raised in Brazil and in South Carolina. Her work combines personal history with historical research to discuss the particularities of migration and its effects on the human psyche. As migration is often a result of displacement and disenfranchisement, her research pays particular attention to the two. 

In 2014, she released her first photography project titled Brazilian Girls, an archive of the women of Brazil. Canedo de Souza has since exhibited at The New Orleans Museum of Art, La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, Fotografiska, MoMA PS1 Artbook, and more. In 2020, she released her first book titled mara kuya, a photography book that explores aspects of migration and family separation that are often overlooked, namely the mental health of children from mixed-status families. mara kuya was shortlisted for the Aperture Foundation Photobook Award 2020.

Diža' No'ole was created in an effort to support undocumented Indigenous women currently experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19. The book features women from Mexico and Guatemala (Zapotecas, from the Sierra Norte, the Valley of Oaxaca, and Veracruz, Mixes and Chinantecas from the Sierra Norte, Kʼiche, Mams, and Qʼanjobʼal), all of whom maintain close ties to their heritage through their ancestral languages. All proceeds from Diža' No'ole directly support the women featured in the book. More information on the project is available via CIELO. Portraits were taken with express permission of their subjects.

Zakia Sewell’s multidisciplinary approach weaves together audio-documentary, ﬁeld recording and music to explore complex themes of cultural heritage, motherhood and mental health. Her work is underpinned by curiosity, empathy and a generosity of spirit. Here, she shares her approach to making art and what inspires her—as well as a specially-curated mix, blending song and spoken word, in celebration of International Women’s Day.

Could you please introduce the work and talk about its creation? Inspired by IWD, I've put together a mix of songs and words exploring love, gender, sexuality and some of the many-layered mysteries of womxnhood. Featuring the wisdom of Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Eartha Kitt, Beverly Glenn Copeland, Max Dashu and Maya Angelou. Do you have a daily creative practice? How do you know when a work is complete?  I'm usually working across a few different mediums and different projects, so my routine and rhythm is constantly changing. One thing that is constant, though, is my journaling; I try to take some time before bed every evening to write something down. It could be a stream-of-consciousness 'download', a poem, or a record of the day's events, but it always helps me to ground myself and connect with where I'm at internally. Sometimes it's difficult to know when things are ‘complete’. I'm a perfectionist, so I'm always trying to amend and tweak things up until the very last minute. Though I'd like to think I'm getting better at letting go and accepting the imperfections in what I create. Which sense allows you to experience the world most intimately? So much of my work is audio-based, so of course I love to listen. I find deep listening to be a very meditative experience, as it brings me right into the present moment, whether I'm recording an interview with somebody, listening to the rhythms of their speech, or I'm out in the natural world, hearing the dry grass crunch beneath my feet. But listening is enlivened and informed by all of the other senses, too. Do I have to choose? Haha. Is there a particular woman who has inspired you and/or your work? I'd have to say my mum. She suffers from schizophrenia and has been through so much in her life, and yet she is one of the most loving, caring, switched-on (and hilarious!) people I know. Her journey of recovery and healing through really difficult circumstances has taught me that change and renewal is possible if we are courageous enough to face up to all of the things that make us who we are—both the good and the bad. Big ups to Amey!

Zakia Sewell is a broadcaster and DJ from London. She hosts a show called ‘Questing’ every Saturday morning on NTS Radio. She presents and produces podcasts and radio documentaries for the likes of BBC Radio 4, the World Service, Tate and Resident Advisor on music, arts and culture.

Listen to Zakia’s mix

We recommend enjoying at full volume installed somewhere comfortable, should your cohabitants be amenable; or through headphones to accompany your daily walk or cycle. Rinse and repeat whenever you’re in need of an hour of power.