Listening Room: Echoes of our Memory

Autograph’s new exhibition uses collage to ask how images can stand in for disputed – and often entangled – narratives when words fail.

For this live performance in the gallery, we’ve partnered with HOUSE OF DREAD, a heritage studio that uses archival material to research the complicated stories and experiences of the people, places and movements that have been undocumented, under-researched or forgotten.

Their Researcher-in-Residence will perform an immersive sonic collage, created from field recordings, oral histories, ambient soundscapes, and other sources – exploring how sound operates as presence, erasure and resistance within archives.

Following the sound performance, there will be time for a Q&A.

This event opens House of Dread’s upcoming symposium 'Thinking Wid Silence' at the Institute of Contemporary Art on Wednesday 2 December 2025.

Read more on Autograph's website

HOUSE OF DREAD is an anti-disciplinary heritage studio. Part-archive, part-lab, part-community, committed to honouring what has been silenced or erased while imagining new futures.

It’s a space that reshapes historical storytelling by centring Black and diasporic memory through research, heritage, sound, and community practice. Instead of treating archives as static collections, HOUSE OF DREAD works with them as living, evolving spaces for inquiry, collective memory, and re-imagination.

The studio runs public programmes, exhibitions, and creative residencies that combine scholarship, oral history, music, and performance. Its ethos is rooted in diasporic traditions of reasoning, reflection, and resistance. Creating spaces of care, cultural learning, and collective inheritance.

HOUSE OF DREAD will host their annual symposium Thinking Wid Silence. Follow @houseofdread_ on Instagram to stay updated.

Dr. Aleema Gray is a Jamaican-born curator and public historian whose work explores Black British history, memory, and resistance. She is the founder of HOUSE OF DREAD, an anti-disciplinary heritage studio reshaping historical storytelling through research, sound, and community practice. She was Lead Curator for the award winning ‘Beyond the Baseline: 500 Years of Black British Music at the British Library, with a practice rooted in diasporic memory, oral histories, and collaborative approaches.

Nana Opoku is a producer and community organiser working across film, television, and live events. As Senior Production Manager at HOUSE OF DREAD, she supports projects at the intersection of heritage, culture, and grassroots organising. Her practice is grounded in care, Black feminist praxis, and intergenerational exchange, building spaces where artists, academics, and communities co-create meaningful cultural experiences.

Derick Armah is HOUSE OF DREAD first Researcher in Residence as part of Reasoning with the Archive program. Derrick is a creative practitioner working across sound, photography, and poetry. His practice centres communal storytelling, exploring the deep connections between people and place and how communities shape, and are shaped by, their social and historical environments. Drawing on his background in history, Derick peels back layers of lived experience to archive and re-present narratives often overlooked, grounding his work in the familiar spaces where memory and identity are made.

Everyone is welcome at Autograph. Planning a visit? Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.

Limited tickets: This event takes place in the gallery, there are limited tickets to ensure the best experience.

Accessible venue: Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities.

Step free: Our building and entrance is step free. A wheelchair accessible lift goes to all floors.

Seating: THis is a seated event.

Free Cloakroom: There us a free, staffed cloakroom at this event for coats and large bags.

The ticket price for this event is £5. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you, please get in touch with Harriet at

Autograph's events are very popular, and often sell out. To provide the best experience for everyone, tickets must be booked in advance for this event, and will not be available on the door . If you need to cancel your ticket for any reason, you can receive a refund up to 24 hours before the start of the event.

Supported using public funding by Arts Council England.

Autograph ABP Registered in England no. 2285116 | Registered Charity no. 1127712

Images: 1) Wendimagegn Belete, film installation from Unveil[detail], 2016. Courtesy the artist and Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery. 2) Autograph. Photograph by Kate Elliott.

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