Fatima Sheekhuna

Fatima Sheekhuna’s first interactions with the arts came via the free and affordable public provisions in their local library, community centre and Blockbuster in north west London.  Because few of these provisions remain for the current generation, her interest in the arts has ‘always been intertwined with the political and economical understanding of specific spaces, peoples and policies that enabled my access’. And it’s why a significant part of her own work is about ‘enabling audiences and artists to access a space that is still elitist and not entirely reflective of society’.

Drawn to storytelling ‘and how it enhances not just voices, but our perspectives and understanding of the world’, Sheekhuna has a particular interest in literature, theatre, film, music and live performance. Among the many artists they cite as an inspiration or influence on their work are Aja Monet, Gil Scott-Heron, Safia Elhilo, Fariha Roísín, Rakaya Esime Fetuga, Steve McQueen, Kojey Radical, James Blake and Michaela Cole.

‘I’ve seen some of my favourite people here, such as Angela Davis and Warsan Shire, so the Southbank Centre is special to me’.

Sheekhuna cites ‘the exchange’ as the thing they love most about curation; ‘the exchange of live performance between artists and audiences, the humanity in that exchange, the shared experience and the reminder of collective presence’. And so she aims to curate spaces where audiences don’t simply watch, but ‘respond, converse, holler, laugh, cry, and feel it viscerally’. This is something they realised through their curation of Yomi Sode’s First Five within Hackney Empire’s Entry for All series, scaling up the performance to platform a breadth of voices and help engage a young target audience, many of whom were attending an arts venue for the very first time. 

Of her route through the arts world Sheekhuna says ‘I knew I loved the arts, I knew I wanted to make structural and societal change in the world, and I figured there must be a way to merge the two,’ but not knowing anything about the landscape of the sector, she’s carved her own path towards curation and a role of ‘community cultivator’. And so Southbank Centre Presents offers them ‘a space to ask all the questions I might otherwise feel embarrassed to’. She hopes to gain ‘clarity, growth and connections’ from the experience, and is excited about ‘leaning into a community of people who understand and know the landscape’, ‘being trusted and backed by the Southbank Centre’ and ‘the prospect of exchanging space and dialogue’, and bringing her community ‘into the space meaningfully’.