{"id":2833,"date":"2023-04-28T12:14:28","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T11:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/?page_id=2833"},"modified":"2024-05-01T10:16:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T09:16:32","slug":"layla-roxanne-hill-may-2023","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/layla-roxanne-hill-may-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"layla-roxanne hill, May, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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What I am Reading Now\u2026
layla-roxanne hill<\/strong>
May 2023<\/p>


Creating time + spaciousness to read, is an important caring strategy. Where you (can) read + how you (can) read, can be as transformational as what you read. When I don\u2019t make time for reading, I deny nourishment, stillness, being held + moving in wor(l)ds beyond my own.<\/p>

As a library user from a young age, I recognise the relationship between book ownership + socio-economic status + I\u2019m grateful to those who make work freely + widely available, + for my own access to borrowed + bought readings.<\/p>

Questioning who + what gets published, has led to the love I have for self-published works, as well as those produced by smaller publishing houses.<\/p>

To support independent writing + keep my reading varied, during the pandemic, I signed up to Good Press Subscription Service<\/a>.<\/p>

Through this, I received Architectures of Healing: Cure through Sleep, Touch, and Travel <\/em><\/strong><\/a>and MsHeresies 3 \u2014 Amniotechnics<\/strong><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>

\u00a0<\/em>When I had experienced loss through death, thoughts about touch came to me + have since stayed. When was the last time a person experienced touch? Gentle caresses, tracing of curves + bumps touch. Not touch without feeling. We live in worlds of insomnia, restrictions on movement + where being untouchable is aspirational. Architectures of Healing: Cure through Sleep, Touch, and Travel<\/em><\/strong><\/a> show us forms of care + healing which have existed across time.<\/p>

Msheresies 3 \u2013 Amniotechnics<\/em><\/strong><\/a> republishes the essay ‘Amniotechnics’ by feminist theorist Sophie Lewis, alongside material from Triple Jeopardy,<\/em> by the Third World Women\u2019s Alliance. Through graphic design, the MsHeresies <\/em>series by Rietlanden Women\u2019s Office <\/strong>explores the topic of work, + demonstrates beautifully how archives can be accessed care-fully + creatively to (re)create collective works.<\/p>

Francesca Sobande + I are working on a graphic novel, Black Oot Here: Dreaming O\u2019 Us<\/em>, which is loosely based on our book Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland<\/a><\/em>. We have been working with Chris Manson, Naomi Gessesse + Lesley Benzie to create a dreamspace, in the hope it lets Black Scottish (hi)stories thrive in less institutional + limiting ways.<\/p>

Chris Manson is illustrating Black Oot Here: Dreaming O\u2019 Us<\/em> + his work has always brought me a lot of joy + hope, especially in challenging the norms we have come to accept within capitalism. His story, F! Providence<\/em> has recently been published in the anthology, Tilt: Six Tales<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>by Quindrie Press.<\/p>

Naomi Gessesse<\/strong> has undertaken the Scots Gaelic translation of Black Oot Here: Dreaming O\u2019 Us<\/em>, doing so with care + nuance. In their book, Dreaming a Black Scottish Archive<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, Naomi offers a reading of Maureen Blackwood\u2019s A Family Called Abrew<\/em>. Naomi\u2019s dreaming + writing has become a vital resource for Black Scottish history.<\/p>

Quindrie Press + Transit Arts publish passion projects + it can be felt in the reading!<\/p>

Blackgirl on Mars<\/a><\/em> by Lesley-Ann Brown<\/strong>, is a book I read this year which spoke to my being. I cried, laughed, shared sections via voice notes to friends. I wrote + wrote, feeling released + healed. Lesley-Ann Brown writes with love, honesty + a connectedness, reminding us to live + feel with wholeness.<\/p>

Returning to books, is as significant as starting new ones.<\/p>

In 2016 I visited Nigeria, the country of my mother\u2019s birth + mine, for the first time since I had left as an infant. Walking around Lagos, guided by what I knew without knowing – <\/em>ancestral knowledge \u2013 I felt at home.<\/p>

Thinking about what I knew about Nigeria + Africa, shaped by imperialism, coloniality + antiblackness, didn\u2019t instil feelings of home. Re-reading African Myths and Legends of Gender<\/em><\/strong> by Sophie Bosede Oluwole <\/strong>+ J.O. Akin Sofoluwe<\/strong>, bought in Nigeria, I think about decolonisation + how it is understood\/practiced in Scotland. When we include knowledge in our lives, how do we do this without replicating the same extractive + fetishizing structures we seek to destroy?<\/p>

Current discussions around (the working) class render people white, sexless\u00a0<\/a>+\u00a0genderless, assuming desirability to conform + belong to the dominant white heteropatriarchal society. Reductive arguments centred around culture wars + identity politics, avoid us struggling for all<\/em> + further deny the existence of \u2018Other\u2019 selves we all have.<\/p>

Reading a proof copy of Yvette Taylor<\/strong>\u2019s Working Class Queers<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, is a reminder we can<\/em> create collective ecologies of care + belonging, where people\u2019s whole selves are recognised + held.<\/p>

Some organising groups I\u2019m involved with have come into contact with the Kurdish Women\u2019s Movement + Jineology. Built on the principle that without freedom of women within society + without a real consciousness surrounding women, Jineology believes no society can be free of patriarchy, capitalism + the state.<\/p>

At a recent trade union conference, the movement congratulated itself on its continued international solidarity, whilst debates were had (+ won) to support weapon + nuclear energy job creation in Scotland. It was there, I was given Collusion, Conspiracy & Corruption: An \u201cOn the Ground\u201d Report into Turkish War Crimes and Use of Chemical Weapons<\/strong>.<\/em><\/a><\/p>

When Scotland makes + sells weapons, it hurts women across the world. It is the responsibility of feminist movements to resist this + Jineology – like Black feminism – critiques them for failing to do so.<\/p>

(Re)remembering + (re)learning how to be in community with women + <\/i>the earth\u00a0 in respectful, nourishing + accountable ways, is to create conditions of compassion, belonging, hope + joy, we all need to be healed + liberated from the ravages of capitalism.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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layla-roxanne hill<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>is a writer + organiser, living + healing in Glasgow. She thinks, feels + acts upon many things, including cultural contributions + the way our conditions move us. She is also active in the trade union movement, holding elected positions within the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Scottish TUC (STUC). layla-roxanne is co-author of Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland<\/em> <\/a>(Bloomsbury, 2022).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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List of What I Am Reading (+ feeling) Now<\/p>

Architectures of Healing: Cure through Sleep, Touch, and Travel<\/a> <\/em>(Kyklada Press, 2021)<\/p>

MsHeresies<\/a> 3, Amniotechnics<\/em>, Rietlanden Women\u2019s Office (2020)<\/p>

Tilt: Six Tales<\/em>,<\/a> edited by Eve Greenwood and Hari Conner (Quindrie Press, 2022)<\/p>

Dreaming a Black Scottish Archive<\/a><\/em>, Naomi Gessesse (Transit Arts, 2022)<\/p>

Blackgirl on Mars<\/em><\/a>, Lesley-Ann Brown (Repeater Books, 2023)<\/p>

African Myths and Legends of Gender<\/em>, Sophie Bosede Oluwole + J.O. Akin Sofoluwe (Ark Publishers, 2014).<\/p>

Working Class Queers: Time, Place and Politics<\/em>,<\/a> Yvette Taylor (Pluto Press, 2023)<\/p>

Collusion, Conspiracy & Corruption: An \u201cOn the Ground\u201d Report into Turkish War Crimes and Use of Chemical Weapons<\/a><\/em>, Steve Sweeney (Peace in Kurdistan, 2022)

Can’t Be Done<\/a>, <\/em>Nathan Somevi (2020)<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Please note the views published in <\/span>What I am Reading Now…<\/i> are personal reflections of the contributors.
These may not necessarily represent the views of the University of Dundee.
<\/span>\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Home<\/a><\/p>\n

Previous Issue: Rosa-Johan Uddoh, April<\/strong><\/b> 2023<\/a>
Next Issue: Banji Chona, June, 2023<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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about projects What I am Reading Now\u2026layla-roxanne hillMay 2023 Creating time + spaciousness to read, is an important caring strategy. Where you (can) read + how you (can) read, can be as transformational as what you read. When I don\u2019t make time for reading, I deny nourishment, stillness, being held + moving in wor(l)ds beyond …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2833","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2833"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3887,"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2833\/revisions\/3887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.dundee.ac.uk\/cooper-gallery-inbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}