South London’s BBZ — photographer Tia Simon Campbell and cinematographer Nadine Davis — are currently at the helm of their own burgeoning QTIPOC (Queer, Trans, Intersexed People of Colour) rave-cum-art collective. Though they’ve got a lot of love for their liberal and multicultural city, when they were unable to find a space that reflected their own queerness, they felt that they had no choice but to start their own. Cue an ongoing series of banging BBZ nights, plus an art studio and gallery, all dedicated to the voices of the QTIPOC community and all furiously inclusive.
Placing black British nostalgia at the centre of their vision for an installation within festival turned institution AFROPUNK, BBZ are bringing back the sacred space of your teenage bedroom. In London for the second year and Surrey Quays’ massive Printworks for the first, AFROPUNK takes place this weekend, 22-23 July. “Remember Keisha the Sket, late nights on dial up, towel underneath bedroom door?” ask BBZ. “Drink ups, link ups and bunk bed bants?” With an installation brought to you by Fred Perry and inspired by the transient nature of the concept of home for so many QTIPOC, BBZ x i-D: MY YARD @ AFROPUNK recreates the places where the posters on your walls were expressions and extensions of your identity, where the people in them watched on as you figured out your place in the world.
Overlooking AFROPUNK 2017’s main stage, VIP festival goers will be invited to explore a series of three bedroom installations, paying homage to the bedroom DJs, black neeks, conscious yutes, bashment studs, trans youth, brown punks, road femmes, jungle heads, and Channel U man-dem. Warm up for this weekend by getting stuck into this epic mix that BBZ describe as, “a collection of sounds that speaks to the Afropunk generation, the late 80s and 90s babies. A sonic exploration of the space BBZ have curated, traveling through each room of the installation and era each room is set.” From X-Ray Spex and Le Tigre, through Erykah Badu and A Tribe Called Quest, and on to Wiley, So Solid Crew and the inimitable Nikkie S & Nyke, it’s pure nostalgia. Step up, step back in time, and relive the best/worst years of your life.
Credits
Text Frankie Dunn