Inaugural lecture: 'Reimagining Equity in Arts' - Prof. Sunny Singh

In Playing in the Dark (1992), Toni Morrison compares whiteness to a fishbowl, where the glass remains invisible while our attention is focussed on the sparkling fish, plants, decorations, debris and detritus and even the water bubbles. But the fishbowl isn’t just created by artists, writers, ‘creatives’ but rather built, sustained and nurtured by a vast apparatus of the creative industries which are, unsurprisingly, part of a much larger superstructure that bell hooks describes as “imperialist white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy’ (2021).

This lecture examines the impact of this invisible superstructure on artists, our creative output and its impact in turn, and on the wider culture and society. It questions our ideals of ‘artistic merit,’ noting that this has more to do with who and what are seen to belong, are deemed acceptable and valuable. It also reflects on the impact of this invisibly determined ‘merit’ and the consequences for our worldviews, ideas, creative production and the creative imagination itself.

Drawing on my own creative practice and research, I argue that the invisible fishbowl is an indication of the ongoing colonisation of our creative and narrative possibilities which results in a paucity of imagination about who we are – on physical, political, economic, social, and yes creative levels, now and in the future. This deliberately taught/learned paucity of imagination is at the root of exclusions in our creative imagination and praxis as well as in the wider apparatus of all creative industries.

With this as background, I examine how this learned paucity of imagination affects our own work as artists? Are we as writers working in this superstructure unwittingly, even unwillingly, reinforcing the glass fishbowl? How can we – as individuals, collectives, institutions and industry –move towards an inclusive, decolonised and yes, equitable creative imagination and practice? How do we create, adopt and practice ethical frameworks for creative practice that can not only limit or even begin to undo the harms of our taught/learned paucity of imagination but also open pathways to an ethical imaginative future?

Sunny Singh is a globally acclaimed, critically renowned novelist and internationally reputed academic of the arts and social sciences. Locating her research interests and pedagogy in a unique, multidisciplinary approach that draws on multiple theoretical frameworks and diverse academic traditions, her professional output transcends academia and extends into public discourse and advocacy. Singh is recognised as a pre-eminent decolonising public intellectual. By embracing a pathbreaking, compassionate and transgressive academic practice, she is today one of the UK’s leading champions for inclusion across all aspects of society.

She is the author of three critically acclaimed novels: Nani’s Book of Suicides (2000), praised as a “first novel of rare scope and power” and its Spanish translation won the inaugural Mar de Letras prize; With Krishna’s Eyes (2006) commended for its “profound insight”; and Hotel Arcadia (2015) described as “powerful and absorbing” and “elegantly plotted, psychologically subtle, and almost unbearably exciting.” Her non-fiction book, Single in the City: The Independent Woman’s Handbook (2001), is a first-of-its-kind exploration of single women in contemporary India. Her academic monograph, published by the British Film Institute, is a pioneering study of the Indian superstar Amitabh Bachchan (2017). Her forthcoming short story collection The Tango Bar: Stories of War (And Love) explores armed conflict over the past century. She is currently finalising a monograph on Indian cinema and working on a book on ethics of creative practice.

Sunny is the founder and director of the Jhalak Prize and its new sister award Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize which seek to celebrate books by British/British resident BAME writers. She is also the founder and director of the Jhalak Art Residency that selects two annual artists-in-residence to create unique works of art that serve as trophies for the Jhalak Prize winners and showcase artists of colour in the UK. She is a former chairperson of the historic Authors’ Club. She is also engaged in an advisory role with a range of stakeholders in creative and cultural industries on matters of diversity, equity and ethics. She was recognised as one of 150 Most Influential People in UK publishing by The Bookseller's annual list in 2021.

18:00: Registration Opens

18:30: Lecture begins

19:30: Drinks Reception

This event will be taking place in person only, at the Wash Houses, (CCG-02 Main Hall), Aldgate campus.

If you are London Met staff or student, please use your London Met email address to register.

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