Roots and Endz: Decolonising Space and Belonging is a co-curated project and series of events exploring contemporary South Asian culture and the intergenerational, intersectional impact of colonisation through music, spoken word and visual arts.

The series kicked off in February with DON’T SLEEP ON US: Borders – a space for South Asians, people of the global majority and allies to come together to explore the impact of colonisation on our homeland and communities in the diaspora. Next up is the return of The Hen-nah Party: Solidarity Is A Verb – a queer alternative to traditional henna nights by and for queer South Asian communities with music, storytelling, poetry, chat – and chaat!

For Activists and Selektas in April, Asian Dub Foundation and Salaam & Funk come together to reflect on time, place and movements that have shaped the South Asian diaspora and cultural sphere through discussion, live performances and DJ sets. Profits from the show will be donated by the organisers to Medecin Sans Frontiers, to aid civilians in current conflict zones.

Alongside the event series, Daytimers, the collective at the heart of re-remerging the Asian Underground, will be running bi-weeklycreative workshops themed around The Art of Resistance, where 15 participants will explore solidarity, resistance, decoloniality, hope and healing. The series will culminate in an exhibition and sharing event – re will be an exhibition and sharing event to culminate the series. The exhibition and sharing will be co-created by the participants therefore details are not set.

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Roots and Endz has been co-curated by Rich Mix’s artistic sub-committee:

Amani Saeed
Amani Saeed is a writer who treads the line between roots and routes. She writes poetry, blog posts, films, and whatever else is needed to get the point across, running regular spoken word and poetry nights (Golden Tongue and Hen-nah Party) with a focus on platforming and celebrating Queer South Asians.

Aser el Saqqa
Aser is a creative director, programmer, festival producer, and cultural entrepreneur with extensive experience across the Middle East and in Europe promoting and managing emerging artists from the Arab world. He is the Founder and Director of Arts Canteen, a leading platform for London’s diaspora arts scene, facilitating the exchange of art and ideas across social and geographical boundaries.

John Pandit
Founding member of the Asian Dub Foundation and their education wing. John has been an activist as well as a musician all his life.

Hassan Mahamdallie
Hassan Mahamdallie is an artist, playwright, theatre director, writer and specialist in diversity and the arts. A senior policymaker and consultant, he authored Arts Council England’s unique approach: The Creative Case for Diversity. He has delivered keynotes on the creative case to cultural sectors in the UK, Europe, the US and South Africa. He was until recently Director of the Muslim Institute, and helps edit its journal Critical Muslim, for which he is its roving reporter. 

Neelam Keshwala
Founded DON’T SLEEP ON US, a community for people from ethnically minoritised backgrounds to uplift, inspire and learn from each other.  She works in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging space as a Change-Maker for culture-change consultancy Utopia.

Sonia Mehta
Sonia is a vocalist focusing on human rights and social justice. She managed the education wing of Asian Dub Foundation Education and co-founded the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective.

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