Release: 9 May 2022
Through prose, poetry, drawing and photography In Other Words 2 is a continuation of a collection of urgent reflections, created by artists exploring their hopes and fears at a time of global crisis. It is a clarion call for change from a group rich in wisdom, shared experience, and what it means to be marginalised in 2022.
In 2020 Metal and artist-researcher Kate Marsh curated In Other Words, a collection of urgent artistic reflections in response to the global pandemic. The first book invited 49 artists to think about the ‘New Normal’ and their hopes and fears for the future as we were thrown into a landscape of change and precarity. You can find out more about our first edition of In Other Words here.
Following numerous lockdowns and continued questions about the future of the arts, it felt even more important to create a second iteration of In Other Words, asking “How are you now?”
In Other Words 2 has been co-curated by Kate Marsh, Xavier de Sousa and Harold Offeh. Kate Marsh explains that:
‘We were always keen to invite other artists into our process, extend our networks and to keep questioning notions of power and curatorial control. More than ever, marginalised artists seem more collectivised, whilst at the same time experiencing extreme isolation: from the world, from each other and from the systems that must be navigated in the arts.’
Kate continues:
‘In Other Words 2 was curated without expectation. We did not want this collection to fix a broken world or even a broken art world. We wanted contributing artists to take up space with their thoughts and experiences of this moment.’
The result for this iteration is a collection of beautiful works responding to the question “How are you now?”. Commissioned by Metal and financially supported by Necessity, it brings together artists working across the performing, literary and visual arts to share their experiences and perceptions of artists re-building their lives and their practice in unchartered territory.
Contributors explore longing, gender identity, racism, family bonds, government guidelines, mental health, and ableism amongst many others.
The participating artists are: Aby Watson, Amy Pennington, Ashleigh Williams, Bryan Giuseppi Rodriguez Cambana, Darren Pritchard, David Sheppeard, Dinis Machado, Dominic Johnson, Emilyn Claid, Estabrak, Fado Bicha, Funmi Adewole, Gabriella Davies, Greg Wohead, Istanbul Queer Art Collective, Jack Ky Tan, Jess Thom, Kat Hawkins, Lynn Lu, Marikiscrycrycry, Monique Jackson, Oozing Gloop, Pankaj Tiwari, Paul Kindersley, Ren Neoh, Ricardo Guimarães, Rieko Whitfield, Robert Softley Gale, Sam Metz, Samra Mayanja, SERAFINE1369, Simone Yasmin, Subira Joy, Sulaiman R. Khan, Symoné, Syowia Kyambi, Tara Fatehi, Tia-Monique Uzor, Toke Broni Strandby, Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Veronica Cordova de la Rosa, Welly O’Brien
It is available now and includes a free audio described version of the book here. There’s also free PDF to accompany the Audio Description.