Black Obsidian Sound System presents three films from Fringe’s catalogue and a relaxed deep listening session in response, with the collective’s own Angelica Udueni as well as B.O.S.S. family Shenece Oretha and Bambi Jordan Phillips.
Doors - 6pm
Shenece Oretha - 6:30-7:15pm
Films and discussion - 7:15-8:15pm
Bambi Jordan Phillips - 8:15-9pm
Angelica Udueni - 9-9:45pm
Close - 10pm
Performers:
Angelica Udueni is an Irish born, North West London raised DJ, artist, creative producer & member of the Black queer soundsystem collective Black Obsidian Sound System (B.O.S.S.) Her work mainly prioritises designing experiences centered around Black Atlantic audio visual and political cultures.
Bambi Jordan Phillips is a producer, movement artist, model and DJ interested in driving artistic work for social change. Bambi is a cornerstone of the London Ballroom Scene, an advocate, mentor and authority for the community. Of which she is an Up and Coming Legend and UK Mother of the Kiki House of Laveaux. From organising at a grass roots level to internationally acclaimed venues. Bambi believes in Voguing as a direct connection to embodied trans-ancestry. She creates work that explores identity and the deconstruction of learned ideas of gender, sexuality, desire and race. Often found pumping between live performance, sound and moving image.
Shenece Oretha is a multidisciplinary artist currently listening from London. Their practice is invested in the mobilising potential of sound and the animation of Black agricultural and environmental legacies. Oretha’s works negotiate the physicality of sound and plants to sculpt a space for collectivity, poly-vocality and emphasise listening as an embodied practice.
Films that will be screened:
A Black Fairytale
We follow the day of princess, who lives deep under the sea and is called by cauri shells to travel across time and space. On their journey they become a witness of possibilities of black resistance and existence. In three worlds they encounter three figures, each sharing a glimpse of their story, making different black experiences and forms of knowledge visible. All encounters are materialized in a small object that Princess archives and cares for with their community.
dyke agitprop #1
dyke agitprop #1 is a DIY critique of queer assimilation, specifically the ‘lesbian renaissance’ heralded in Western pop media while genocide rages on, and inequality and political repression intensify.
Spread subliminally through club visuals for deBasement’s viral banger, ‘FRONT LEFT SPEAKER’, dyke agit prop invokes the voice of the principled lesbian killjoy, challenging the individualist approach to art making and legacy popular with contemporary commercial dyke artists.
Eyes to See
Eyes to See is a short docu-art film, narrated by Queer Khoe Elder Dr. Yvette Abrahams, that explores the role of queerness within indigenous Southern African knowledge systems. Through the lens of Khoe heritage, this film delves into how queerness is inherently woven into African cultural and spiritual practices. Dr. Abrahams, an Economic Historian, farmer, and practicing Traditional Healer, previously served as Director of the Khoe and San unit at the University of Cape Town. Drawing on decades of her research, Eyes to See challenges the notion that queerness is a Western import, emphasizing that queer identities have long existed in African societies. The film focuses particularly on Khoe knowledge systems, language, and spirituality, highlighting the deep synchronicity between Khoe ancestors and the natural world. Eyes to See is as a contemplative experience, a meditation on ancestral queerness, Khoe history, and the interconnectedness of nature and identity. The film’s score, composed with indigenous African instruments, gently supports this meditative journey, underscoring the film’s intention to inspire curiosity and self-reflection.
This event has been curated by B.O.S.S. collective members Kiera Coward Deyell and Angelica Udueni.
Black Obsidian Sound System (B.O.S.S.) was established in the summer of 2018 with the intention of bringing together a community of queer, trans and non-binary black and people of colour involved in art, sound and radical activism. Following in the legacies of sound system culture they wanted to learn, build and sustain a resource for our collective struggles. The black-led system, based in London, is available to use or rent by community groups and others with the purpose of amplifying and connecting them.
B.O.S.S's work includes renting the system to the community at subsidised rates or for free, technical workshops, live performance events, club nights, art installations and various creative commissions including a short film ‘Collective Hum’ (2019) for LUX & the ICO and 'The Only Good System is a Sound System' for Liverpool Biennial (2020). In 2021 B.O.S.S was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and presented an exhibition at Herbert Museum and Gallery Coventry.
The Piehouse is a not-for-profit, worker-run, wheelchair accessible music and arts venue in a railway arch in Deptford. Their work focuses on platforming groups that typically find themselves left out of mainstream cultural programming, with a focus on queer, disabled, working class and POC artists.
*Everyone is welcome at our events! If you can't afford the entry to the event, please drop us an email to arts@fringefilmfest.com and we'll be able to help you!