Prayer from the ancient future

A sonic journey of collective healing and care

Friday 26th March, 2:00-3:45 PM GMT

As we are heading towards the post-pandemic era, the question ahead is what kind of future we wish to return to. The usual one plotted by the system that has been failing many of us? If 'not this future', what possibilities could be open to us? The third and last iteration of the Not This Future conversations takes you on a sonic journey of collective grief and healing for conspiring a different future. Manifesting this conversation as a prayer, Ceara Conway and Youngsook Choi will walk through the idea of community-led grief and planetary care. This immersive conversation will be composed of stories, poetry, lamentation and healing songs with a folk and indigenous approach.

Not This Future (Youngsook Choi, 2020)

The participatory performance, Not This Future facilitates a pseudo shamanic ritual as a political device by holding the grief as a site of solidarity and communal care. It commemorates and critically revisits the Essex 39 incident where thirty-nine Vietnamese were found dead in the back of a lorry abandoned by a people smuggler in 2019. As a core part of the commemoration, this spiritual performance accommodates 39 offerings from different parts of the world, gathered through the exclusive call out for those whose creative practice and research weigh on migrant justice and challenge the idea of borders.

You can watch Not This Future in full here until 31st March.

Over the period of screening, three conversations will expand on the themes of the work. ‘Grief, it takes a community’ is the first iteration, followed by ‘Grief with strangers’ with curator Annie Jael Kwan on 18th March and ‘Prayer from the ancient future’ with musician/artist Ceara Conway on 26th March.

Access information:

This event takes place online via Zoom. We will be using Zoom's webinar function which means you will be joining without your camera or microphone. Q&A will be available via the chat function. If you have any access needs or experience any barriers to accessing this event please contact us at emily@heartofglass.org.uk

We will be recording the conversation and will share with full subtitles following the event.

Please note that Not This Future includes content which deals with death, state violence and racism. Watching this performance will be an emotionally challenging experience for those whose lived experiences are in/directly related to the Essex 39.

In joining this event you agree to our Safer Spaces Policy, which can be found here: https://www.heartofglass.org.uk/safer-spaces-policy

Youngsook Choi

Youngsook is a London-based artist and researcher with a PhD in human geography. Her practice relates to the subjective position as a woman, mother, and migrant of Korean Heritage, coming from a working-class background. Including Not This future, Youngsook’s recent performances explore the concept of 'political spirituality' and intimate aesthetics of community actions by composing speculative narratives with research evidence, folk tales, mythologies and performative instructions for audience participation. Youngsook is currently the recipient of Arts Council England Project Grant for her collective healing project Becoming Forest and artist resident for Radio Arts Catalyst 20/21.

Ceara Conway

Ceara Conway is an Irish artist and singer working in performance, song and traditional folk practices. She produces experiential performance works that utilise singing, appropriated texts and visual art to explore social and cultural experiences of hope, healing and loss in response to issues such as cultural colonialism, migration and feminist concerns. Most recent commissions and performances include, ‘’How Are You’’ a scent artwork in collaboration with olfactory artist EQ Factories, Bealtaine Festival (2021) , Viriditas, Galway European Capital of Culture & Saolta Arts (2020), fair is foul & foul is fair, Aideen Barry and Alice Maher, Katzen Museum, Washington DC (2019) , Dóchas-Hope, Waterways Ireland ( 2019). She was recently awarded an Arts Council of Ireland Music Bursary, 2020 . www.cearaconway.ie