BLM Fest is a London-based organisation that centres the voices of Black British creatives, activists, audiences, and communities nationally and internationally. Our vision is for a future that celebrates Black lives, the breadth of the Black experience and centres the fusion of our many different cultural expressions. We do this through platforming and amplifying Black achievement through an annual festival and year-round engagements, led and produced by Black people for everyone.
BLM Fest 2022 is presented in the New Wing at Somerset House, as part of Somerset House’s active commitment shared in our 2020 anti-racism pledge. BLM Fest founder Kayza Rose, initially connected with Somerset House as a member of our advisory board for This Bright Land, a new festival of culture and community, in summer 2022. Somerset House has provided space and logistics, to platform BLM Fest’s ethos of taking up space and amplifying Black joy.
BLM Fest was founded by Kayza Rose, a long-time BLM activist and cultural producer. Kayza is co-founder and director of Black Girls Picnic; a movement in collective self-care that celebrates Black Womanhood. She is also Director of QTIBPOC Creatives, Operations Director at Mzz Kimberley’s LIFE, an all-trans fashion show, exhibition and showcase; and she is Chief Operating Officer at AZ Magazine, an online magazine centering QTIBPOC voices. Kayza has curated events for Google, the Big Green Cabaret tour and Channel 4’s Black History Month series. In 2021 she worked on the production of a Viacom-commissioned documentary 'Moments That Shaped: Queer Black Britain.'
BLM Fest is supported by Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, Hackney Empire, Counterpoints Arts, Second Home, Somerset House & Arts Council England.
SAT 22 OCT 2022
BLM Fest presents: DYLEMA
Born in Lagos, Nigeria this Igbo traditionalist artist popularly known as Griot weaves into her artistry the experience of her igbo culture and her British experience. Like a true igbo diasporan (African living in the western hemisphere) DYLEMA focuses on portraying the story of melanin people, especially Africans living outside Africa. She does this through her portraiture and unique live performances. Her first exhibition was held at South London’s acclaimed Copeland Gallery.
11.00-17.00 | The Black Portrait Gospel Exhibition by @dylema
FREE - just walk in and view the paintings, no booking required
The Black Portrait Gospel Exhibition featuring curated works focused on the African diaspora.
Dylema’s melanin portrait collection holds portraits of Black British service providers. The paintings come with a detailed story of each individual's personal journey in Britain. The stories are embedded in a scroll and sealed. Only at the request of the collector may the seal be broken and the story in the scroll revealed.
19.00-22.30 | The Dylema Collective @dylemacollective
£25.00 | Black Tie dress code
The Dylema Collective will stage a 90 minute headline performance of contemporary Jazz, Poetry and Soulful harmonies to shake the mind, soul and body.
The Dylema Collective are a talented group of musicians, carefully put together by their woman lead Dylema. The artists' name is born of an acronym stating: Do You, Let Every Man Adapt. This 8-man collective brings to the world a sophisticated blend of contemporary Jazz, Poetry and Soulful harmonies. The band was first put together in March 2016, and since then they have created orgasmic, soul enriching experiences for audiences all over the U.K. and Europe. They love sharing music and poetry that shakes the mind, soul and body. Thematically, their feminist poetry addresses head-on matters of race, gender, sex and individuality, Dylema providing a powerful voice which is ode to articulate fluidly on issues which are of growing importance today. Her piece on Black feminine empowerment What If A Black Girl Knew has now passed the 200,000 mark on YouTube. The Dylema Collective have performed on TED, BBC, BET and BBC Africa, and will release their debut single titled Mine, in October 2021.
