In Other Words

Year: 2020
Author/Artist: Edited by Kate Marsh, Mark Richards and Ruth Campbell
ISBN: 978-1-8380229-1-4
Publication: First published in 2020 by Metal and the Live Art Development Agency.
Trade Orders: To follow; please contact Joseph ([email protected]) in the meantime.

Please join Metal on Wednesday 9 December for special online book club discussing In Other Words.

In Other Words is a collection of urgent reflections, created by 49 artists over 4 months in 2020 exploring their hopes and fears for the future at a time of global crisis. Through prose, poetry, drawing, collage and photography it is a clarion call for change from a diverse group rich in wisdom, shared experience, and what it means to be marginalised in the UK.

The book was devised at the start of the Covid -19 pandemic in the UK, and was initially inspired by an Arundhati Roy quote in April 2020.

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred … or we can walk through lightly, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”

In this moment of huge unknowing and isolation, arts organisation Metal and their Associate Producer, disabled dance artist and academic Kate Marsh recognised that for many of the artists they were working with – (d)Deaf and disabled, working class, LGBTQIA*, and those experiencing racism – the idea of ‘getting back to normal’ post Covid-19 was a loaded and exclusive concept.

Bringing together artists who exist outside of the ‘norm’ all the time seemed essential in radically re-imagining a new way forward. Marginalisation was and is something that informs me and these artists’ everyday existence. This ‘portal’ and moment of change offered an opportunity to gather our shared knowledge of precarity, to create a space for imagining another world together.
Kate Marsh, Editor

The resulting publication is a beautiful collection of images and words. Commissioned by Metal and published in partnership with Live Art Development Agency (LADA) it brings together artists working across the performing, literary and visual arts to share their hopes and fears for the future. Contributors explore isolation, longing, gender identity, racism, family bonds, government guidelines, mental health, and ableism amongst many others.

Edited by Kate Marsh, Mark Richards and Ruth Campbell

Book cover: title in blue block font over grey-green cover

In Other Words, Metal and LADA, 2020.

Contributors

Amber Akaunu, Amina Atiq, Annie Hanauer, Azara Meghie, Barby Asante, Beverley Bennett, Brian Lobel, Byron Vincent, Claire Cunningham, Dan Daw, David Lock, Dean Atta, Delaine le Bas, Elsa James, Hetain Patel, Hwa Young Jung, Jamal Gerald, Jeremy Goldstein, Jo Bannon, R Justin Hunt, Katherina Radeva, Kelly Green, La JohnJoseph, Lois Weaver, Lu Williams, Luke Pell, Marjorie H Morgan, Martin O’Brien, Matty May, Melody Sproates, Noëmi Lakmaier, Nwando Ebizie, Whatsthebigmistry, Quiplash – Amelia and Al Lander-Cavallo, Rachael House, Rachel Mars, Raquel Meseguer, Sarah Hopfinger, Scottee, Selina Nwulu, Selina Thompson, Sheila Ghelani, Sonia Hughes, Tanja Erhart, Tom Marshman, Toni-Dee Paul, Travis Alabanza, Vijay Patel, Xavier de Sousa.

Saint Lucy, Jo Bannon, 2020

Metal · IN OTHER WORDS – AD

Audio Description

The artistic content of In Other Words extends beyond this physical book. We recognise that not all our audience will access the book through the text and visual contributions alone, as such we highly recommend everyone listens to the audio-described version. Our aim is not to privilege one version and to acknowledge that they each offer access to the artwork for a wide range of audiences.

PDF to support Audio Description

Creating this book has been a wonderful opportunity to capture in print the inventiveness, resilience, empathy and ideas of a group of exceptional artists and thinkers. It is an extraordinary collection, captured in this most extraordinary of times, with the intention to disrupt and provoke as well as soothe, inspire, inform and stimulate.
Colette Bailey, Artistic Director, Metal

Banner image credit:

I Identify As Marty McFly, Melody Sproates, 2020.

In Other Words

Contributors

Audio Description

Also

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SKIN in the GAME

Announcing Diverse Actions Leadership Bursaries recipients 2017/18

Announcing Diverse Actions Leadership Bursaries recipients 2018/19

Announcing Diverse Actions Leadership Bursaries recipients 2019/20

Diverse Actions awarded Arts Council England Ambition for Excellence grant

A Contemporary Struggle

Exposures