Artist Rosa-Johan Uddoh was co-commissioned by Southwark Park Galleries and The Bower to create two new artworks for our public flagpoles in Southwark and Brunswick Park. Launched during Black History Month 2022, the work celebrates the life and work of Southwark resident Una Marson (1905–65).
Marson was a British-Jamaican activist, radio producer, presenter and poet renowned for her pioneering anti-colonial, anti-racist, feminist and pan-African activism and the first Black radio producer at the BBC in 1942.
The flags feature the quote: ‘I hope you remember a girl by the name of Una Marson….she is still alive!’, taken from Marson’s letter requesting a reference for her time at the BBC that she sent years after her employers aided her forced deportation to Jamaica.
The works are a continuation of Uddoh’s previous sound piece Una’s Voice exhibited at The Bower in 2022, which drew on the legacy of Marson’s BBC radio programme Caribbean Voices that broadcast Caribbean writing. Made with current Southwark residents from the Caribbean diaspora, Uddoh’s sound work re-visited and re-presented Marson’s poetry, interwoven with her own writing, and drew upon Bajan poet Kamau Brathwaite’s key text ‘History of the Voice’ (1984), which asserted the Caribbean voice as a distinct nation language.
Una’s legacy and life in the borough is celebrated by Southwark Council’s new library named after her. The Una Marson Library opened in the Aylesbury area during January 2024 with a launch event that featured a reading of Una’s Voice by Rosa, from her book Practice Makes Perfect.
She is still alive! is the third annual flag commissioned by Southwark Park Galleries honouring Black History Month and has been supported by Southwark Council’s Black History Month Grant and Arts Council England.
Events // 22-23 October 2022
Throughout the weekend Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 October 11am-5pm, Southwark Park Galleries exhibited Uddoh’s silent film Request for Reference (2019).
The unveiling of the flags was marked by a launch event at Southwark Park Galleries on Sunday 23 October at 3pm, where Uddoh introduced her work and discussed the inspirational life of Una Marson.
Listen //
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