Video

Making a Rukus!

Artist Evan Ifekoya and Curator Topher Campbell reflect on clubbing, community building and making their own archives.

Sitting down to a conversation at Ifekoya's studio they talk about the spaces that have shaped their creative journeys and identities. Campbell is co-founder of rukus! federation – an art project and living archive exploring contemporary Black LGBTQ+ cultural and political history – that was highly influential on Ifekoya's artistic practice. Together they discuss the ongoing need for intergenerational political and artistic interventions that showcase the joy, friendship, resistance, and creative endeavours of the Black LGBTQ+ and beyond.

Photograph from the Thomas Mutke Archive, 2000s. Courtesy the artist and The London Archive
Photograph from the Thomas Mutke Archive, 2000s. Courtesy the artist and The London Archive
Photograph from the Thomas Mutke Archive, 2000s. Courtesy the artist and The London Archive

Featuring

    Artist, Filmmaker & Curator:

    Topher Campbell

    Campbell's practice spans broadcasting, theatre, performance, writing, experimental film and site-specific work. His work looks at sexuality, masculinity, race, human rights, memoir and climate change. In 2000, he co-founded rukus! Federation a Black Queer arts collective with photographer Ajamu X, which culminated in the internationally recognised rukus! Archive.

    Artist:

    Evan Ifekoya

    Ifekoya is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and former Somerset House Studios associate artist. Their practice explores ideas of healing, belonging, spirituality and sound through embodied art and social architecture work.

Credits

    Directed by:

    Andy Mundy-Castle

    Produced by:

    Doc Hearts & Somerset House

    Edited by:

    Yu-Pu Pon

    'Making a rukus! Black Queer Histories Through Love and Resistance', curated by Topher Campbell, at Somerset House, 11 Oct 2024 - 19 Jan 2025.

Subjects