Sola Olulode on light, love, joy and creating queer spaces through her art in her newest exhibition ‘Burning, like the star that showed us to our love’, on show at Ed Cross Gallery until 16th September 2023.
In my final year of university, I told my supervisors that I wanted to write my final dissertation on joyous black stories, where central narratives were not ones clouded in suffering and tragedy. At first, not only did I struggle to find them, but my supervisors also struggled to think of un-tragic black stories too. It was a wakeup call, but one that led me to discover the Black Joy. I encountered Bolu Babalola’s anthology Love In Colour (2022), for instance, along with @theblackjoyproject Instagram account; the vibrant directorial debut of Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane (2023),and Black Joy (2023), a collection of love letters to Black British Culture.
