Show Me the Money

If the year 2000, was a bottle of wine, I would label it my vintage year. For the first time in my life, I felt in flow with life. I was doing a course that fascinated me and I was part of a community. I jumped out of bed in anticipation every morning, always the last to leave my studio at 9 pm. The security guards would gently coax me out of my studio, insisting on locking up, so they could end their shift. It was all so bothersome to me, as I would have happily lived in my studio. I was in love with art and my dopamine and serotonin levels must have been mega-optimized. I smiled all the time and must have had a spring in my step, or swagger about me. Spending time developing my art practice in the studio, seminar discussions, and long pub lunches created a sense of wellness and optimism. I was so grateful to be in this world. It felt like we were part of an important intellectual and artistic moment. I had conversations with esteemed artists, including Dr. Faisal Abdu'Allah and Turner prize winner (1992), Grenville Davey. This was in sharp contrast with my previous science degree, which was solitary with no community connectedness.

This idyllic existence was threatened when the University decided to sell off the art building. A dark cloud hung over us all, as both academics and students thrived in this rambling old building. You could always find a space to create wacky installations, (including on the rooftop) salvage materials to create Arte Povera, or shoot Surrealist film clips and develop 16mm films, on-site. The University sold the building and we were relocated to the Dockland campus, with its shiny floors and walls. We were scared to touch the walls or mark the floors and had to reorientate the way we made art. We lost our community connectedness, with most of us feeling lost and displaced. This beautiful Art Deco building was sold to developers and converted into luxury flats. I had forgotten about this painful episode, and I have not been back since 2000.

The Greengate House episode serves as a good case study to explore the 4th principle of Kwanzaa. Ujamaa, which means cooperative economics is the most challenging aspect to grapple with. The motivation for Ujamaa is to create wealth and economic freedom for people of African descent in the Diaspora. The first step to this goal is to develop an ecosystem of trade, enterprise, and innovation. This might be achieved by owning businesses within existing frameworks. The idea of Ujamaa is inspirational and gets us thinking about ways to create economic freedom, within systems that underserve black communities. So, which way forward? Do we continue the existing trajectory, which serves the few? Or do we chart different sets of trajectories? Can Ujamaa offer a different entry point to this wicked problem?

I make this provocation based on the loss of Greengate House. In hindsight, the fate of Greengate House might have been different. It could have been saved and turned into a community asset. This is especially pertinent because it is in a deprived area of London. I remember a few of us mentioned that it would be a great idea if we could buy the building. Albeit this was discussed in passing because none of us had the faintest idea of how we could do this. Most importantly, we did not feel empowered as a collective to make any intervention. Although we were a strong artist community, we did not recognize the value of our strength, nor did we understand how the world worked. Things are different regarding community activism these days. We read reports about communities saving their local pubs, and campaigns to save local libraries more often now. This gives me hope that in the midst of the conflation of multiple global wicked problems (financial uncertainty, poverty, violence, war, environmental crisis, inequalities, health disparities, etc), some of us might be inspired to use Ujamaa as a springboard to configure a new way to enact co-operative economics. In the spirit of Ujamaa, you are welcome to DM if this speaks to you.

See below a link to music to uplift our spirits