To coincide with his new commission cleave to the BLACK for the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022, Michael. has worked with Untitled Book Club on a programme forming part of a special broadcast takeover on Montez Press Radio that took place on 23 June 2022.
In the 75 minute programme, Michael. as well as Joshua and Elijah of Untitled Book Club discuss the creative process, books, films, and music that led to and informed the production of cleave to the BLACK.
Michael. is a Black British artist-filmmaker and community worker born and based in London. His work explores the poetics of blackness and being.
Joshua is a member of Untitled Book Club and filmmaker.
Elijah is a member of Untitled Book Club, as well as an advisor and writer.
Untitled Book Club was founded in August 2018 by lifelong friends, with the aim of providing a space for black male friends to come together and discuss books, it has since evolved into a powerful space for mutual peer support and personal and professional development.
Montez Press Radio is an experimental broadcasting and performance platform. They were founded in 2018 with the goal of fostering greater experimentation and conversation between artists, writers, and thinkers.
Reading list:
Summer, Somewhere, Danez Smith, Random House, 2018.
In the Wake: On Blackness and Being, Christina Sharpe, Duke University Press, 2016.
The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming, Catherine Keller, Routledge, 2003.
Black bodies, White Gazes, George Yancy, 2008.
Freedom As Marronage, Neil Roberts, University of Chicago Press, 2015.
The Fact of Blackness, Frantz Fanon, Routledge, 2009.
Contested Landscapes, Movement Exile and Placement, Barbara Bender and Margot Winer, A Black Gaze, Tina M. Campt, MIT Press, 2021.
Flash of the Spirit, Robert Farris Thompson, Vintage Books, 1984.
The Groundings With My Brothers, Walter Rodney, Verso Books, 2019.
