From the Editor
* The majority of people in the UK think the British Museum should have a permanent exhibition dedicated to the transatlantic slave trade, according to research reported in The Guardian. But you can visit What Have We Here?, an exhibition in which British-Guyanese artist Hew Locke turns his lens on the museum’s collection in an exploration of histories of British imperial power.
Daniel Nelson london.globalevents@gmail.com X: @EventsNelson
TALKS AND MEETINGS
Thursday 9 January
* Libyan Resistance, Hisham Matar on My Friends, his powerful new novel following three Libyan friends whose lives are forever changed after protesting against Gaddafi’s regime, 6.15pm, The Conduit, 6.30pm, £16.80/ £6.50, The Conduit, 6 Langley St, WC2H 9JA. Info: The Conduit
Saturday 11 January
* Boycott Barclays – Day of Action, organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Info: PSO
Monday 13 January
* World Briefing 2025, discussion with Paul Moss, Isabel Hilton, Emma Burrows, Liz Sly, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
EXHIBITIONS
* Silk Roads, outstanding fresh look at east-west trade and cultural routes in the period AD55-AD1000, £22-£25, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1 until 23 February. Info: Exhibition
+ ‘Made in Syria, buried in Essex’: Silk Roads busts its blocks
* A Silk Road Oasis: Life in Ancient Dunhuang, step into a once bustling town on the famous Silk Road to meet the people who lived, travelled through, worked and worshipped there, British Library, 96 Euston Road, NW1 until 23 February. Info: BL
+ A voice from the Silk Roads: ‘I would rather be a pig’s wife than yours’
* Hew Locke: What Have We Here?, Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke turns his lens on the British Museum collection in a collaborative exhibition exploring histories of British imperial power, adults from £12, under-16s free, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1, until 9 February. Info: British Museum
+ ‘It’s as if Amazon had their own army today’
* As We Rise: Photography from the Black Atlantic, photos from Africa and the diaspora in Canada, UK, US and the Caribbean, from £6 (access to three exhibitions), Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, King's Road, SW3 4RY, until 20 January. Info: Black Atlantic
+ Every image contains some kind of magic
* Zanele Muholi, more than 280 photographs by the South African “visual activist” of her country’s Black lesbian, gay, trans, queer and intersex communities, including self-portraits, £18, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG, until 26 January. Info: Tate
+ Black LGBTQIA+ lives matter, shout Zanele Muholi’s photos
* The Kola Nut Cannot Be Contained, display about the bitter-tasting fruit that has been important in West African culture and trade since at least the 11th century features stories about its entangled global histories, vibrant traditions, and new innovations, Wellcome Foundation, 183 Euston Road, NW1 until 2 February. Info: Welcome Collection
* Grace, Alvaro Barrington’s “reimagining of Black culture and aspirational attitude under foreign conditions … explores how my grandmother, my mother, and my sister in the British Caribbean community showed up gracefully,” free, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG until 26 January. Info: Grace
* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide
* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum
* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888
* Between Two Worlds: Vanley Burke and Francis Williams, two portraits of Jamaican scholars, centuries apart, shedding light on a 1745 painting and reflecting on identity and colonial legacies, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: Exhibition
* Inspiration Africa: Stories Beyond the Artifacts, exploration of V&A galleries through the lens of African heritage, free, second Saturday of every month, V&A, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: V&A tou
* African Deeds, showcases a collection that includes diaries, cassette interviews, videos, photos and documents of three generations of family history, inspired by grandfather Thomas’ land title deeds brought from the Gold Coast in West Africa in 1901, Black Cultural Archives, 1 Windrush Square, SW2 1EF. Info: BCA
* All Our Stories: Migration and the Making of Britain, the centrality of migration to British life, free, Thursdays-Saturdays, Migration Museum, Lewisham Shopping Centre, SE13 7HB, until December 2025 . Info: Museum
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* Hard Graft: Work, Health and Rights, stories of underrepresented workers and their rights within precarious and unsafe labour environments, free, Wellcome Centre, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until 27 April. Info: Wellcome
+ Working yourself into the ground
* Turner Prize 2024, £25,000 prizewinner Jasleen Kaur, a Glasgow Sikh, brings her sculptures of everyday objects to life using unique sound compositions; Pio Abad’s exploration of cultural loss and colonial histories, reflecting on his upbringing in The Philippines; Claudette Johnson’s figurative portraits of Black women and men; Delaine Le Bas draws on Roma cultural history, focusing on themes of death, loss and renewal; £14/ concessions available, Tate Britain, Millbank, SW1P 4RG until 16 February. Info: Tate Britain
* Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, free, Serpentine North, until 28 September 2025. Info: Serpentine
* Beware Blue Skies, immersive film installation about battle drones, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, until 16 March. Info: IWM
* The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, £22, V&A Museum, Cromwell Street, SW7 2RL, until 5 May. Info: V&A
* I See the Same Sky, South African artist Justin Dingwall’s first UK solo exhibition, Doyal Whan, Third Floor, 91a Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY until 25 January. Info: Exhibition
* Art of Palestine | from the river to the sea, the culture, heritage, and struggles of the Palestinian people through various artistic expressions, P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD until 31 January. Info: P21
ARTS OPPORTUNITIES
* Good Chance is recruiting a deputy artistic director for its productions, public artworks and artist development programmes, and is “particularly interested in … applicants with lived or close experience of displacement and migration.
* The Royal Court Theatre has launched a London-wide playwrights award for 13-18-year-olds.
* The stage is yours: Symposium in east London is an open platform for creativity and for people to exchange creative culture and share work in progress or finished material; a place to be creatively inspired and a spot to do something.
* Training and development opportunity for “an individual passionate about theatre and costume, from a refugee or asylum-seeking background”. You’ll work with Good Chance on its new production, Kyoto, coming to London's West End in the new year. The costume trainee will work with the costume designer and the wardrobe team from rehearsals through to the opening. Details here
* Entries are open for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2025 – submissions close at 6pm on 9 January.
* Springboard is a free part-time training programme that aims to find, shape, inspire, champion and sustain the next generation of performers from under-represented backgrounds in west London.
* The Royal Court Theatre has launched The Writers’ Card, part of its programme of helping playwrights at every stage of their career. It offers mentoring, networking, funding opportunities, events, and use of resources in the building, such as the library, subsidised meals and free script printing. For more information on the Card, details of the writer support offer and how writers can sign up to the free membership, visit https://royalcourttheatre.com/playwriting
* Theatre in the Pound: The Cockpit Theatre’s monthly scratch night enables performers to try out 10-15 minutes of new work, plus a short Q&A. Also classes, workshops, readings, advice sessions, support & performance opportunities.
* Papatango has launched a digital playwriting course, with tips from top artists.
* Riverside Studios is offering a regular drop-in playwriting group: “Whether you’re working on a script and want creative inspiration, you're intrigued by the idea of writing a play, or simply want a creative outlet, these monthly meet-ups are informal, fun and open to everyone.” It has also launched songwriting sessions.
* Are you a writer, director, producer or theatre-maker with a piece of new writing that you’d like to put in front of an audience? This is the place.
* London is to get a memorial to slave trade victims in Docklands. “It is vital that our public spaces reflect the heritage of our great city - in all its diversity and complexity,” said Mayor Sadiq Khan. Public consultation will be followed by a competition for the artist. Unveiling is scheduled for 2026.
* Citizens of the World, a choir that grew out of the Calais “Jungle” and has 50 members from 30 countries, welcomes newcomers. It rehearses on Wednesday evenings. Details on the website
FILM
* Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, jazz and decolonisation are entwined in this historical rollercoaster of a documentary about the West’s murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, Curzon. Bloomsbury, 13, 16 January; ICA until 9 January
+ Congo, colonialism, Cold War conflict and all that jazz
* The Bibi Files, leaked footage from police interrogation videos are interwoven with archival footage that shows Netanyahu’s rise to power, and how his nearly 30-year rule as Prime Minister has divided the state of Israel, until 15 January, Curzon Bloomsbury
* How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, a family coimopetes for a multimillion-dollar inheritance: Thailand's Oscar submission set attendance records across Southeast Asia and claimed the audience award at New York’s Asian Film Festival; Picturehouses Ealing, Finsbury Park, Hackney; 8, 9 January, The Garden; until 9 January ICA, The Mall
* All We Imagine as Light, drama about three women navigating life in Mumbai, BFI Southgate, Curzons Bloomsbury, Hoxton, Soho; ICA until 8 January
* No Other Land, doc following a young Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist who join forces against act of forced transfer in the occupied West Bank., Curzon Bloomsbury 7, 8 January
Thursday 9 January
* Total Trust, the full extent of the surveillance state in China is revealed with breathtaking immediacy in this gripping film, which follows the stories of Chinese citizens who have been monitored, intimidated and manipulated by the State, Curzon Bloomsbury
from Friday 10 January
* Separated, one of the darkest chapters in recent US history: the policy of separating children from their parents at the US border, brought in by the Trump administration in 2017/8, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 16 January
PERFORMANCE
from Wednesday 8 January
* Nine Nights, when Yasser decides to take part in itikaf, sleeping and fasting in the mosque for the last 10 nights of Ramadan, he soon regrets his decision. But as he navigates smug worshippers, shared bathrooms, and recurring thoughts of chunky chips, Yasser’s isolation forces him to confront a side of himself he’s been trying to keep hidden, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Street, W6 9BN until 26 January. Info: Riverside
from Thursday 9 January
* Kyoto, the world’s nations are in deadlock and 11 hours have passed since the UN’s landmark climate conference should have ended. Agreement feels a world away. The greatest obstacle: US oil lobbyist and master strategist, Don Pearlman… , from £25, Soho Place, 4 Soho Place, Charing Cross Road, W1D 3BG, until 3 May. Info: Soho Place
* The Lonely Londoners, 1950s London. Newly arrived from Trinidad, Henry ‘Sir Galahad’ Oliver is impatient to start his new life in London. Carrying just pyjamas and a toothbrush, he bursts through Moses Aloetta’s door only to find Moses and his friends already soured on city life. Will the London fog dampen Galahad’s dreams? Or will these Lonely Londoners make a home in a city that sees them as a threat?, Jermyn Street Theatre, 16B Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6ST until 22 January.
from Saturday 11 January
* A Good House, Amy Jephta’s satirical view of neighbourliness and the pressures that come with wanting to fit in, acting as a microcosm of community politics in South Africa, Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Downstairs, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS until 8 February. Info: Royal Court
TV and RADIO
+ Coverage of Africa, Asia and Latin America is poor at the best of times, and in the Christmas/ New Year period it sinks to near invisibility:
Saturday 4 January
* From Our Own Correspondent, reports from around the world, 11.30am, Radio 4
* This Cultural Life, Chilean-US novelist Isabel Allende, 7.15pm, Radio 4
Sunday 5 January
* Colombia With Simon Reeve, farmers and guerrillas, 8pm, BBC2
* From Our Own Correspondent, reports from around the world, 9.30pm, Radio 4
* Crossing Continents, developing Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, midnight15, Radio 4
Monday 6 January
* Indian Hill Railways: Darjeeling, 7pm, 1am, BBC 4
Tuesday 7 January
* Indian Hill Railways: Nilgiri, 7pm, midnight35, BBC 4
* Bombay Railway, 11.35pm, BBC 4
* Ahir Shah’s Seven Blunders of the World, the comedian riffs on Mahatma Gandhi’s “seven social sins”, 6.30pm, Radio 4
* Crossing Continents: South Korea’s Feminist Hunters, 9pm, Radio 4
Wednesday 8 January
* Indian Hill Railways: Shimla, 7pm, 1.15am, BBC4
Thursday 9 January
* Seychelles With Jane McDonald, travelogue, 7pm, Channel 5
* Sorry, I Didn’t Know, Black comedy quiz, 11.35pm, BBC2
Friday 10 January
* Susan Calman’s Cruise of a Lifetime, yet another celeb swans around, beginning with Kolkata, 8pm, Channel 5