LONDON.- This autumn, in Making a rukus! , Somerset House invites visitors to explore the playful, radical and disruptive world of the rukus! federation, an art project and living archive exploring contemporary Black LGBTQ+ cultural and political history.

The brand-new exhibition, curated by artist, filmmaker and co-founder of rukus! federation, Topher Campbell, explores Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans creativity, activism, community and pride through archive materials, contemporary artworks and brand-new commissions, celebrating the work of Black LGBTQ+ pioneers and artists since the 1970s. The exhibition demonstrates that the rukus! archive, which takes its inspiration from causing a ruckus, or making a noise, is not a work of static historical documentation, but an ongoing and vital series of political and artistic interventions that bears witness to the joy, friendship, resistance, and creative endeavours of Black LGBTQ+ people in Britain.

The exhibition takes place across four spaces in the Terrace and Courtyard Rooms, South Wing of Somerset House.

The Founders

The exhibition begins by exploring how an artistic collaboration between two friends, exhibition curator Topher Campbell and pioneering photographer Ajamu, led to the creation of the rukus! federation. Examples of video and photography work that span Ajamu and Topher’s creative collaboration will be on display, as well as newspaper clippings and unseen items from their personal archives, telling the story of how rukus! was created through art, activism and friendship.

The Icons

The second room of the exhibition celebrates the relationships and collaboration of Black LGBTQ+ individuals and organisations whose work makes up the rukus! archive and whose contributions have helped to build the contemporary community of Black LGBTQ+ people in Britain. Ephemera and objects including minutes of meetings, posters, flyers, notes, magazine articles and clothing tell the story of how Black LGBTQ+ artists and activists did and continue to collectively create space for themselves whilst resisting the twin hostilities of homophobia and racism. Amongst those whose work is featured are poet Dorothea Smart, playwright Mojisola Adebayo, activist Ted Brown, writer Dirg Aab Richards, therapist Dennis Carney, publisher Paul Boakye, academic Valerie Mason John, photographer Rotimi Fani-Kayode, filmmaker and performer Zinzi Minott and artist Isaac Julien.

We Dance We Sweat

Room three will invite visitors inside the clubs and music that were created by and for Black LGBTQ+ people, spaces where community was built not just through words but through bold celebrations of bodies and desire. Artist, performer and former Somerset House Studios associate artist Evan Ifekoya will present a restaging of a body of work called 'A Score, A Groove, A Phantom' including audio and an interactive installation, creating an immersive club-like space for visitors to explore. Against the backdrop of Evan’s soundscape, objects including photographs, flyers, HIV prevention materials, music, magazine articles, posters and clothing act as testament to the strength and liberation found in Black LGBTQ+ club culture. Materials from iconic clubs including Bootylicious, Pressure Zone, Off the Hook, Stallions, Black Perverts Network and many more will feature, demonstrating how clubs created their own rhythms, fashions and languages.

Film & Video

The final part of the exhibition will showcase the videos and films that are in the rukus! Archive, including Sharing Tongues, a series of interviews of oral histories of Black LGBTQ+ history of London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. The Homecoming: A Short Film about Ajamu (1995), one of curator Topher Campbell’s most iconic works of film, featuring Ajamu, Stuart Hall, Sonia Boyce, Dennis Carney and many more, will also be will also be presented alongside unseen behind-the-scenes items from the shoot.