Black x Brown Love Can Help Change The World
About the talk
The world is now witnessing numerous cases of violent conflicts and, even worse, genocides in real-time, because of perceived socio-cultural barriers (e.g. race, religion, etc.) and colonialism. Worldwide, we are in the streets, public places, and online collectively voicing our thoughts.. While our feelings swing between anger, sadness, and helplessness, we ask ourselves, “How can we change the world?”
Despite the chaos, Black x Brown love is a blueprint for healing the world. This discussion will explore how Black x Brown relationships across time and space have overcome barriers and helped us nurture empathy, compassion, and solidarity.
Jonah Batambuze
Jonah Batambuze (b. 1979, Chicago, USA) is a Ugandan-American, interdisciplinary artist, place-maker, and community builder. Working at the intersection of Black x Brown culture, his work explores themes of migration, memory, identity, race, and Afro-Asian solidarities.
Raised in Central Illinois during the 1980s as a first-generation immigrant, Batambuze found community through his love of Hip-hop, basketball, technology, and pop culture. Now based outside London, his artwork spans various mediums, including painting, installation, performance art, and moving images. Batambuze’s art is often participatory and celebrates marginalized identities. His work aims to make these identities feel seen, valued and heard.
In 2020, Batambuze founded the BlindianProject, a community at the intersection of Black x Brown culture. In 2021/2022, he was awarded a Metal Culture U.K. Artist Residency and an invitation to curate at Dortmund Goes Black Festival 2023 in Dortmund, Germany. Batumbuze has brought the BlindianProject ethos via curated multidisciplinary events in New York, London, Berlin and counting. In 2021, he co-authored When We See Ourselves // Black x Brown Love. He has also guest lectured at institutions such as Stanford, UCLA (US) St. John’s (Canada), and SOAS (London). Batambuze graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Lewis University and obtained an International MBA from Euromed-Marseille and the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, Germany.
