Sadiqa de Meijer writes between two languages. She has a keen emotional awareness of both Dutch (her mother tongue) and English (the language of her adoptive country). In this conversation with Qanita Lilla, Sadiqa talks about writing “between” these two languages and of having to balance their stylistic tendencies. Interspersed with readings from Sadiqa, we learn about her life enriched by the pain and joy of cultural pluralism.

In this episode, Qanita Lilla talks with Emebet Belete about her community-driven art projects and her passion for arts education. Emebet shares how her art has been influenced by her youth in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, global travels, and how her art practice has evolved to include large-scale projects which cover pieces of public infrastructure through a process called “yarn storming.”

In this episode, Garth Erasmus, South African artist and musician talks with Qanita Lilla about how the experience of apartheid and forced removals shaped his artistic practice. He talks about navigating a white world and of balancing the urgent need to respond to the trauma of apartheid while cultivating his artistic voice. Sound work and music provided a useful medium toward healing for Garth, and it allowed a means towards embracing an Indigenous Khoisan identity.

Music highlighted in this episode:

Garth Ersamus. “Threnody for the KhoiSan.” Threnody for the KhoiSan, TAL, 2024, #7. Courtesy of the artist

Artist Jega Delisca talks with Qanita Lilla about his portraiture practice and how he makes his sitters feel seen by empathizing with their vulnerability. He talks about the importance of building rapport and trust but also of activating a balanced understanding of Black masculinity. Jega’s artistic practice challenges male emotional blindness and he talks about how he moved from painting portraits of others to opening his apartment as a gallery and becoming vulnerable himself.

Faten Nastas Mitwasi talks with Qanita Lilla about growing up in Bethlehem in occupied Palestine, the artistic sensibilities she inherited from her parents, and establishing a career as an artist, curator, scholar and arts administrator. Faten shares the physical and emotional challenges of attending art school in Israel and the joys of making site-specific and community-engaged art in Palestine and around the world. This conversation shows that contemporary Palestinian art is rich in humor, experimentation and full of hope for the future.

In the show Ukutula, Jill Glatt’s vibrant textile pieces Seed and Who is Belle Island? rise to meet visitors. In this interview, Jill talks with Qanita Lilla about her close familial bonds and her personal routes toward art. She talks about juggling teaching and being an artist, the processes of harvesting botanicals, and of find a home in Kingston.

In this episode, Qanita Lilla talks with Jessica Karuhanga about her creative journeys from Sarnia, in south western Ontario to London, Ontario. Jessica talks about how her personal geographies shapes her artistic practice. She also talks about Black embodiment, about the audible demands of space, and of moving toward art as experience and embodiment.

In this episode, artist Anthony Gebrehiwot and Qanita Lilla talk about his photography and digital art practice. Anthony describes the future-thinking themes of his work as being premised on the possibilities of a community of “like-hearted” people who can uplift each other towards new modes of living. Together, they talk about his artworks, Mahaba (2024), an ongoing research project that is shared in its early phases as part of Ukutula: Our Timeless Journeys on view at Museum London, and Echoes of Devotion (2024), a digital mural on the Queen’s University campus.

Anthony Gebrehiwot’s Mahaba (2024) is on view as part of Ukutula: Our Timeless Journeys (21 November 2024- 11 May 2025), a travelling exhibition, developed by Agnes and hosted by Museum London.