Art Activism with a Political and Poetical Voice - Windrush 75

Can Art Save Us?

Zita Holbourne is a multi award winning multidisciplinary artist, author, poet, curator and vocalist. She's an experienced trade union and community activist and her artwork responds to social and climate justice, human rights and equality. Zita was elected to the TUC National Race Relations Committee and the Women's Committee and she's joint National Chair of the Union for Artists. As a human rights campaigner, and educator she believes in practical solidarity, and for years she's raised funds for humanitarian aid missions. She's the National Chair of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts which she co-founded in 2010, initially in response to government austerity. She's also founded the Roots, Culture, Identity art collective, curating exhibitions to showcase the art of young black and migrant artists. Through arts activism she campaigns against all forms of discrimination, including the discriminatory cuts in the UK arts and culture sectors already in 2023 achievements include being one of the winning submissions for the Jessica Kingsley writers prize entitled, Roots and Rebellion Personal Stories of Resisting Racism and Reclaiming Identity. She has been nominated for Arts, Culture and Community Influencer in the Caribbean Global Awards 2023 and her artwork was commissioned for the Voices of Windrush festival, commemorating and celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Windrush generation arriving into Britain. We talk about art speaking to scandal, to hope, to commemorating the lost, the loved and leaders of positive, social change. We talk about art as a healer, a teacher and a friend.

Season 4 features 7 Windrush specific interviews with world class and award winning artists, just look for titles with 'Windrush 75.'

Photo Credits:

Largest, central photo of Zita Holbourne © Josimar Senior, Black Writers Guild

Top left, photo of Zita Holbourne © Elizabeth Dalziel, Women Activists of East London exhibition .

Bottom right, Artwork by © Zita Holbourne for the Voices of Windrush Festival

Series Audio Editor - Joey Quan.

Series Music - Courtesy of Barry J. Gibb

Closed Captions are added to all interviews in this series. Read only, text versions of every interview can also be found here: www.canartsaveus.com

Discover the Roots, Culture, Identity Exhibition: www.tuc.org.uk/RootsCultureIdentity

Discover Voices of Windrush Festival: www.voicesofwindrush.com/

Find out more about #Justice4Windrush www.justice4windrush.org/

Discover Zita Holbourne: https://linktr.ee/ZitaBARACUK