Woman Up! On Tour - Sangini, Newcastle

08/26/23 • 61 min

Sangini is a Black and minorities women led community arts project that is committed to ending gender based violence. They seek to improve the quality of Black and minoritised and socially excluded women's lives by increasing their physical, mental and spiritual health through artistic, heritage, crafts and social activities that helps women recover from experiences of gender based violence whilst promoting cultural diversity.

Sangini seek to reach BME, disadvantaged and excluded women in innovative and creative ways whilst providing opportunities for tackling inequalities. Their previous projects have had a positive impact in encouraging women from different communities to engage in educational, creative and participatory activities by providing support and encouragement thereby removing the social and cultural barriers.
https://www.sangini.co.uk/about
Padma Rao, Director, Sangini is based in the North East of England, is also a contemporary visual artist practicing painting and contemporary drawing, a visiting lecturer, arts facilitator and a published poet.

Padma has over 20 years’ experience in the arts, heritage, community development, equalities and women’s issues. Padma has an art studio Makaan in South Shields, UK where she has shown works of art by artists based locally, nationally and internationally. A published poet, Padma has a background of working in the radio both at the BBC Radio Newcastle, as well as in India.

In her role at Sangini, Padma leads on the strategic development of Sangini’s programme of work that includes developing partnerships and sustainability and representation of Black women’s voices at local, regional and national networks.

Padma is passionate about the role and status of marginalised women in our current society and by exploring these issues through her work, both as an artist as well as in her role at Sangini, she aims to create a platform for the wider discussions around creativity, equality, feminism, identity and displacement of Black women.
Nasim Akhtar is an artist living near Durham. She loves the textures of different fabrics and make textile art and patchwork quilts. She's been sewing since she was very young. She uses watercolours and acrylics to make abstract images as well as using digital manipulation to finish a piece of art. Her art work is displayed at EDAN Art Gallery in Seaham. Art ran alongside a 30 year career in Probation Services, in particular working to develop on services for women who commit crime. Writing poems and short stories helped her to record reflections and events. She has a manuscript inspired by her father’s journey to the UK which shaped his family, including her. Nasim is also a member of Easignton Writers and a local book club.

Previous Episode

Woman Up! On Tour - Lady Kitt at Newbridge Project, Newcastle

New episode of Woman Up! On Tour!

Recorded at the Newbridge project I. Newcastle we spoke with disabled artist and drag king, incredible Lasy Kitt

Kitt works on long term, collaborative

projects driven by insatiable curiosity about how art can be useful. Projects are usually punctuated by the creation of large-scale, vibrant installations / sites for exchange made from recycled paper,

reused plastics and raw clay, which Kitt calls shrines.

Kitt uses crafting, performance, joy and research to create objects, interactions and events, with the wild ambition of dismantling and mischievously re-crafting spaces and systems they find discriminatory, obsolete or just quite dull.

Kitt is a trustee for Crafts Council and founding member of disabled artist led art rabble “kin collective” (North East Culture Awards “Newcomer of the Year” winner 2022).

Kitt’s work has been longlisted for the 2023 Aesthetica Art Prize, shown at Atlanta Contemporary (USA), Saatchi Gallery (UK), National Centre on Restorative Justice (USA) and commissioned by Craftspace (“Drag Declares Emergency” 2022-23), Arts&Heritage (“This, our hive of voices” 2020-22) and BALTIC (‘Open. Bloom. Flourish. Nourish’, 2021).

Kitt is currently working with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (UK), AXISWEB (UK) and Centre for Artistic Activism (USA) on “(en)SHRINE”, an ACE and AHRC funded project exploring collaborative making as a catalyst for organizational development.

Thank you @acegrams for making all this possible!

Next Episode

Woman Up! On Tour - Artlink, Hull

In this episode recorded at Artlink in Hull we spoke to Jemma Brown, Sam Metz and Lydia Shearsmith.
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Jemma is a creative producer and a specialist working with diverse communities to plan and produce current, relevant, and inclusive artwork to engage and enlighten. She holds a First Class BA Honours in Contemporary Fine Art Practice, is an Arts and Graphics Teacher (QTLS status), and Freelance Artist.
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Sam is an artist who researches, creates and reflects on the concept of what they refer to as choreographic objects. Sam has collaborated with the performance artist David Clarkson to create body-based live art, and has been a member of Guerrilla Art Lab, a queer, feminist, live art, performance collective since 2016.
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Lydia is an artist who is primarily concerned with exploring photography as a medium and as a subject matter. Her varied processes allow her to expand image-making into physical space, challenging common definitions of photography.
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Artlink is an arts and educational charity working with under-represented people to improve prospects and deliver positive social impacts. They do this through participatory arts projects, exhibitions, events, and learning programmes - working with a range of communities. Since 1982, Artlink Hull has been involved in the development of community, participatory and socially-engaged work.