Ben Harman, Director of Stills: Centre for Photography in Edinburgh, speaks to Sekai Machache

Sekai Machache is a visual artist and curator based between Dundee and Glasgow, Scotland. Her work is a deep interrogation of the notion of self. Having been born in Zimbabwe and raised in Scotland, she has a particular interest in W.E.B Dubois’ notion of Double Consciousness, which expresses the psychological challenge of having African heritage whilst living in the West. She is interested in the relationship between spirituality, imagination and the role of the artist in disseminating symbolic imagery to provide a space for healing. Working in a multi-disciplinary practice, Sekai works with a wide range of media. Her photographic practice is formulated through digital studio based compositions utilising body paint and muted lighting conditions to create images that appear to emerge from darkness.

Machache works internationally with her most recent work taking her to Brazil where she produced a cross-cultural project which was supported by a Creative Scotland and British Council partnership. She often works collaboratively, for and within her community and is a founding and organising member of the Yon Afro Collective.

www.sekaimachache.com

@sekaimachache (Instagram)

www.yonafro.co.uk

Books recommended by Sekai during this episode:

Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017)

White Fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin DiAngelo (Penguin, 2019)

In The Wake: On Blackness And Being by Christina Sharpe (Duke University Press, 2016)

The Red Book by CG Jung