The New Carthaginians: Nick Makoha

Name: The New Carthaginians: Nick Makoha
Start: 2025-09-21T10:45:00+01:00
End: 2025-09-21T12:00:00+01:00
Location: Van Gogh House

By Van Gogh House London

Nick Makoha discusses his powerful new collection of poetry.

Date and time

Location

Van Gogh House

87 Hackford Road London SW9 0RE United Kingdom

Good to know

Highlights

1 hour, 15 minutes
In person
Doors at 10:15 AM

About this event

Nick Makoha discusses his powerful new collection of poetry in which the familiar Western canons of art, history and philosophy are prised apart and reassembled in a new configuration. Drawing on Basquiat’s technique of the ‘exploded’ collage, Makoha’s triumvirate of characters – the Poet, a Black Icarus and a resurrected Jean-Michel Basquiat – embark on a heroes’ odyssey, gathering the symbols of a new mythos, through which the othering of Black life might be undone and the stage set for some fresh emergence, some transfigured understanding of myth and life.

Organized by

Van Gogh House London

Organised by Van Gogh House London, the Festival of ENCOUNTERS is a free-to-attend, large-scale event, featuring up to 40 talks and other kinds of encounters, by artists, writers, activists, musicians and thinkers in venues across the northern end of Brixton. This includes not only Van Gogh House, but also galleries, parks and community centres and other exciting venues including non-traditional spaces such as cafes, and a co-op workshop space. The Festival is inspired by serendipitous encounters with interesting people in unexpected places, bringing together exciting voices, thoughts and ideas to and from Brixton.

Van Gogh House London is very grateful to Lambeth Council for their support in helping us bring this inaugural Festival of ENCOUNTERS to fruition.