Inspired by Tavares Strachan’s exhibition, a panel of writers, curators and artists, chaired by Lisa Anderson, discuss bringing hidden histories to light.

Tavares Strachan is dedicated to telling stories about extraordinary figures overlooked by official histories.

Using Strachan’s exhibition as a jumping-off point, an interdisciplinary panel including Dr. Aleema Gray and Hammad Nasar, and chaired by Lisa Anderson, share their own approaches to recording, preserving and sharing stories, and discuss the importance of forging more inclusive archives.

Lisa Anderson is a prominent leader in the culture and heritage sector, driven by a deep passion for visual arts and dance. With an academic background in human rights, she strategically employs culture to champion social justice and racial equity. Since 2021, she has been managing director at the Black Cultural Archives, a national institution preserving and championing Black British history.

Dr Aleema Gray is a Jamaican-born curator, researcher and public historian based in London, whose work focuses on documenting Black history in Britain through the perspective of lived experiences. Her practice is driven by a concern for more historically contingent ways of understanding the present, especially in relation to notions of belonging, memory, and contested heritage. She is the Lead Curator for Beyond the Bassline: 500 years of Black British Music at the British Library and the founder of House of Dread, an anti-disciplinary heritage studio.

Hammad Nasar is a curator, writer and strategist. He was Senior Research Fellow at Yale’s Paul Mellon Centre, where he co-led the London, Asia project; and Principal Research Fellow at UAL’s Decolonising Arts Institute. He is a board member of the Henry Moore Foundation (UK) and Mophradat (Belgium), and was awarded an MBE for services to the arts in 2023.