Rivington Gallery

postcards about lynching
http://www.rivingtonplace.org/WithoutSanctuary
http://withoutsanctuary.org/

The photographs, press cuttings and postcards (yes, postcards) are so shocking, so quietly real, and in some cases so recent, that they quickly dispelled any fears I might have had of ghoulishness or historically-excused rubbernecking. Instead, they bear witness to the unthinkable, and in doing so, act as a reminder that the boundaries of the thinkable are always being redrawn, and that although the battleground may shift, it never goes away. I left Rivington Place feeling thoroughly disturbed, but also with a sense of having learnt some profound and unhappy truths about human nature. This is not easy programming, but I recommend it.

Rotimi Fani-Kayode

Nigerian-born Fani-Kayode’s hypnotic images of black male bodies are justly celebrated as a deeply moving exploration of what it means to be an outsider “in matters of sexuality; in terms of geographical and cultural dislocation; and in the sense of not having become the sort of respectably married professional my parents might have hoped for.