None but
ourselves
can free our minds
Laku Neg is interested in the availability of spaces for African diaspora people to access sources of knowledge that reaffirm confidence and value in heritage - acknowledging our strategies, creations and performances of beauty, resistance and self empowerment. This work is a conscious attempt to mark out such a space.
Meet Adéọlá
Originally from Trinidad, I am an artist-researcher living in Wales since 2003. I am interested in carnival, masquerade and ritual and the ways in which we perform our fragments – the ways we express identity and belonging in the diaspora – through memory, re-imagination and the making of sacred spaces.
Meet our Heartbeat
Laku Neg's ethos was forged out of the collective vision and energy of nine women goddesses of the African diaspora, based in the UK. Our ancestral roots cover lands like Cameroon, Nigeria, Trinidad, Bermuda, Grenada, Wales and other parts of Africa, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean’s indigenous lands. We have a range of different interests and skills including: film and video, consultation, law, history, equality and diversity, feminism, accounting, art, performance, dance, choreography, carnival, masquerade, ritual, health, birth and death rites and cultural research.
Our reach is global, with the concept of diaspora aimed at connecting creatives working in different locations. We acknowledge challenges of difference across the African diaspora and intersections with all peoples.
Together we are participating in empowering actions that move us towards living in a more just environment - building opportunities to be supported and involved in broader conversations around social justice.