From the Editor
* Six women who are seeking or been given asylum in the UK have created artwork about their experiences and hopes, and on 3-16 February their work will be displayed on the Old Street Digital Canvas, at one of London's busiest roundabouts.
Daniel Nelson london.globalevents@gmail.com X: @EventsNelson
TALKS AND MEETINGS
Sunday 23 February
* Nnedi Okorafor: Death of the Author, the author of Binti and co-author of Black Panther presents her latest novel, about family, culture and identity, 7.45pm, from £17, Purcell room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road.
Monday 24 February
* The Trump World Order, Justin Webb, 6.30pm, £22.59-£43.35, Smith Square Hall, Westminster. Info: Intelligence Squared
Tuesday 25 February
* Trump and the World, Michael Goldfarb, Xenia Wickett, Roger Cohen and Patrick Wintour, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2. Info: Frontline
* Afghanistan: Breathing Life into Heritage in a Fragile State, Andy Miller and Jonathan Rider on the role of heritage protection in peace-building and reconciliation, 2-3.30pm, free, V&A Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7. Info: V&A
* Stand with Colombia: Inside the global fight against corporate courts, Guillaume Long, Cleodie Rickard, Sebastián Abad Jara, 7pm–8.15pm, online. Info: Global Justice Now
Wednesday 26 February
* Refugee Week 2025 Conference, this year’s theme is Community as Superpower; online, free. Info: Refugee Week
* Hurling money at Edtech: Understanding private profit and public funding during Covid-19, Kathryn Moeller, 4-5.30pm. Info: Institute of Development Studies
Thursday 27 February
* Hong Kongers, Ukrainians, coloniality of migration and citizenship, Michaela Benson on what it means to be a 'good migrant' in post-Brexit Britain, 12-1pm, Institute of Education, 55-59 Gordon Square, WC1H ONU. Info: IoE
* Music, Memory and the War on Blackness, George the Poet, 7pm, £18-£30, The Kiln, 269 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR. Info: The Kiln
* Sumud: A New Palestinian Reader, Malu Halasa, Jordan Elgrably, Nadine Aranki and Saeed Taji Farouky mark UK publication of an anthology celebrating the power of culture in Palestinian resistance through memoir, short stories, essays, book reviews, personal narrative, poetry and art, 6.30-8.30pm, P21 Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD. Info: P21
* Community: Becoming Black and British, discussion and celebration, 6.30-8pm, Ritzy, Coldharbour Lane, SW2 1JH. Info: Black Cultural Archives
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’
* 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
* Citra Sasmita: Into Eternal Land, the Indonesian artist uses a 15th century painting technique to dismantle misconceptions of Balinese culture and confront its violent colonial past, free, Barbican Centre, Silk Street , EC2Y 8DS until 21 April. Info: Barbican
* 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 Jamaican scholars’ portraits, shedding light on a 1745 painting, 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 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. 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
* Esther Mahlangu: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, brightly coloured geometric paintings rooted in South African Ndebele culture, free, Serpentine North, until 28 September. 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
* Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism, over 130 works by 10 artists from the 20th century, capturing the diversity of Brazilian art, £23.50-£25.50, Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, until 21 April. Info: RA
* Stories of Migration, celebrating 12 years of innovative storytelling from PositiveNegatives., SOAS Gallery, Thornhaugh Street, WC1 until 22 March.
* SOIL: The World at Our Feet, includes Fernando Laposse’s work on the impact of the North American Fair-Trade Agreement and use of agrochemicals in a Mexican village, Asunción Molinos Gordo’s visual geometry of Egypt’s Nile’s valley, inviting visitors to explore global agri-business; Annalee Davis drawing on knowledge of the former Barbados sugar plantation where she lives; Somerset House, The Strand, WC2R 1LA until 13 April. Info: Soil + Events programme
* Through Motion, British Ghanaian artist Heather Agypeong focuses on mental health and wellbeing, invisibility and the African diaspora, Doyle Wham, 91A Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY until 22 March. Info: Doyle Wham
* Women of the World Unite: the United Nations decade for women and transnational feminisms 1975 to now, London School of Economics Library, Houghton Street, WC2 until 22 August. Info: LSE
* Mickalene Thomas: All About Love, vibrant, large portraits of Black women at rest reclaim representation in art history, celebrating love and radical repose, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX, from £19, until 5 May. Info: Hayward
* Donald Rodney: Visceral Canker, survey exhibition of the late Jamaican-heritage British multi-media artist, Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street, E1 7QX until 4 May. Info: Whitechapel
* Visions from the Amazon, photography, painting and film by Claudia Andujar, rubber tapper Hélio Melo; Indigenous artists Denilson Baniwa and Tayná Satere plus Paula Sampaio, Luciana Magno, Nay Jinknss and Rosa Gauditano, Peltz Gallery, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD until 9 April. Info: Peltz:
* Making Egypt, exploring ancient Egypt's creativity and how it continues to influence art, design and popular culture today, £10, Young V&A, Cambridge Heath Road, E2 9PA. Info: V&A
ARTS OPPORTUNITIES
* Interested in taking a show to this year’s Camden Fringe? Programming is underway. Apply here.
* Tamasha Tales is a new series of commissioned short pieces that aims to celebrate global storytelling and cultural intersectionality through artist collaboration. Tamasha Theatre is looking for two artists from any Global Majority background with 5-10 years of experience) with an established body of work.
* The Royal Court Theatre has launched The Writers’ Card, part of its programme of helping playwrights. It offers mentoring, networking, funding opportunities, events, and use of resources in the building, subsidised meals and free script printing. For more information, visit https://royalcourttheatre.com/playwriting
* The Royal Court has also launched a London-wide playwrights award for 13-18-year-olds.
* Theatre in the Pound: The Cockpit Theatre’s monthly scratch night enables performers to try out 10-15 minutes of new work + a short Q&A. Also classes, workshops, readings, advice sessions, support & performance opportunities.
* Papatango hopes its new Playwrights’ Studio will be a home for playwrights of all levels of experience. It aims to be a joined-up, sustained writing package with a variety of free advantages, including digital workshops, lone-to-one, and thousands of pounds in open-access funding.
* 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.
* 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
* To A Land Unknown, slice-of-life drama about two Palestinians stuck in Athens while trying to get to Germany who cook up a plan that takes them out of their depth, Lexi until 26 February; Luxe Action 25, 25 February
+ Two desperate Palestinians: ‘We’re getting out, no matter what’
* I’m Still Here, as Brazil faces the tightening grip of a military dictatorship, Eunice Paiva, mother of five, is forced to reinvent herself after her family suffers a violent and arbitrary act by the government, Picturehouses Central, Crouch End, Ealing, East Dulwich, Finsbury Park, Greenwich; Vues Finchley Road, Fulham Broadway, Islington, Westfield London, Westfield Stratford City, West Norwood; ICA, Castle until 27 February; Cine Lumiere until 3 March; Riverside 24, 25 February
* I’m Migrant Film Festival, focussing on films from immigrant and exiled artists, poets and writers from the Arab world + talks and discussions, Genesis cinema, Mile End Road until 28 February. Info: Festival
* Hiding Saddam Hussein, the life of Iraqi farmer Alaa changed dramatically in 2003 when deposed dictator Saddam Hussein demanded to be hidden. Two decades later filmmaker Halkawt Mustafa tracked Alaa down to learn the story of the 235-day secret, Curzon Bloomsbury until 27 February
* No Other Land, a young Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta teams up with an Israeli journalist to fight Israel’s expulsions, Curzon Bloomsbury, until 27 February
* BFI Future Film Festival 2025, includes films and directors from or about China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, UAE and UK, BFI Southbank and online, until 6 March. Info: Festival
* The Seed of the Sacred Fig, shot in secret, Mohammad Rasoulof’s drama depicts a man recently appointed a judge in Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court at a time of growing street unrest and discontent from his wife and daughters: since the film was made, three actresses have fled to Berlin to avoid persecution, Vues Finchley Road, Westfield, Westfield Stratford City; 23 February: Rich Mix, Vue Islington
+ Iranian Oscar nominee Mohammad Rasoulof: ‘After my arrest, I told myself: don’t hold back’
* Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat, superb but long and detailed documentary about the circumstances surrounding the murder of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, Picturehouses Hackney and Ritzy
+ Congo, colonialism, cold war and all that jazz
Sunday 23 February
* Celluloid Sunday, on a covert mission in Latin America in 1983, Vietnam veteran Eddie Guerrero's allegiance to the US military begins to unravel as his growing awareness of his Latino heritage leads him to identify with the people he is meant to oppose, 6.30pm, ICA
* A Confucian Confusion (Duli Shidai), sardonic portrait of a Taipei overrun by money-obsessed go-getters, 5.30pm, National Film Theatre
* Screening for Palestine, shorts, 2.45pm, £17, Close-Up Cinema. Info: Eventbrite
Monday 24 February
* Black Girl, seminal work from the father of African cinema, Ousmane Sembène, focuses on a domestic worker who emigrates from Senegal to France in the hope for a better life + intro, 8.50pm, National Film Theatre
* Black Godfather of Scuba follows the life and mission of Dr. Albert Jose “Doc” Jones, co-founder of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers who is dedicated to recovering the remains of slave ships + Q&A with director Matt Kay & others + Queen of the Sea,17-year-old surfer, Deguene, blazes a trail for women in Senegal, 6.30pm, Rich Mix
PERFORMANCE
* 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
+ Kyoto turns climate change into an entertaining thriller
* blackbird hour, babirye bukilwa’s “visceral and moving exploration of a queer Black woman’s call to arms for loving oneself when love has made itself scarce”, from £20, Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ until 1 March. Info: Blackbird
* Antigone [on strike], inspired by the so-called ISIS Brides’ the play follows student Antiya as she campaigns against a Home Secretary, causing a media frenzy. The audience participates by voting and commenting with keypad devices, Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, N4 3JP until 22 February. Info: www.parktheatre.co.uk
+ Clicks and democracy: do our opinions really matter?
* Kafka’s Ape, Noma Yimi stars in a compelling adaptation of Kafka’s Report to an Academy, transforming the original text into a universally relatable, unsettling exploration of what it means to adapt as an “other” in society, 7.30pm, £18-£16, Omnibus Theatre, 1 Clapham Common Northside, SW4 until 22 February. Info: Omnibus
* A Knock on the Roof, Mariam knows the army often drops small warning bombs – a knock on the roof - giving tenants in Gaza 5-15 minutes to evacuate. With wit and determination, Mariam meticulously rehearses for the run of her life; by Khawla Ibraheem, Royal Court, Sloane Square, until 8 March. Info: Royal Court
TV and RADIO
Sunday 23 February
* Storyville: Gaucho Gaucho: Argentina’s Last Ranchers, quietly fascinating observational documentary, midnight30, BBC4
Monday 24 February
* Go Back To Where You Came From, controversial “reality” TV series based on six Brits visiting political hot-spots and talking about migration, 9pm, Channel 4
* Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October, first of new series, 9pm, BBC 2
* Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace, 11.50pm, BBC 4
Tuesday 25 February
* The Battle For Laikipia, documentary about a land dispute in Kenya, 10pm, BBC4
* Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace, 11.30pm, BBC 4
Wednesday 26 February
* Himalaya With Michael Palin, travelogue, 8pm, BBC4
* Israel and the Palestinians: The Road to 7th October, new series, 11.35pm, BBC 2
Friday 28 February
* Asian Network Comedy London 2025, stand-up comedians, 10.25pm, BBC 3
Sunday 23 February
* Storyville: Gaucho Gaucho: Argentina’s Last Ranchers, quietly fascinating observational documentary,. midnight30, BBC4