ARTIST INTRODUCTION

Multidisciplinary artist Rebekah Ubuntu tunes into belonging for solace and hope at a time of  increased climate anxiety and immense change across our global coastlines. This sonic-visual meditates on: marine and matrilineal ecologies, reciprocity, interdependence, remembering and healing.

The visuals for this work were created in collaboration with Rebekah’s creative partner Jaime Peschiera.

Special thanks to Alexis Pauline Gumbs for her book ‘Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals’, the foundational text that inspired this meditation, and to Plover Rovers for research support. 

This work was produced while in residence on videoclub’s Vital Capacities residency programme, in partnership with Institute for Creative Arts – University of Cape Town and Wysing Arts Centre. Supported by Arts Council England.

‘Ecologies of Belonging (a Meditation in Progress)’ follows on from Rebekah’s long term project ‘Despair, Hope and Healing: Three Movements for Climate Justice’, a sonic-visual dedicated to the unique, fragile and imperilled equilibrium of our planet’s ecosystem and a tribute to global BIPOC (Black/Indigenous/People of Colour) communities fighting for climate justice.
Conceived in 2017 during a commissioned performance at Tate Britain, this work has continued iterating through subsequent commissions from the Barbican Centre, Wellcome Collection and Tate Modern. Shape Arts have since selected ‘Despair, Hope and Healing’ for exhibition in ground-breaking augmented reality app Unfolding Shrines which launched in Spring 2021.

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