Call When You Reach
Madinah Farhannah Thompson
23/01/26 - 22/03/26
The title, which means 'call me when you get home (safely)' in Jamaican Patois was a phrase commonly spoken by Madinah's paternal grandmother when the family left London to drive home to Norfolk.
Filmed at Holkham beach in Norfolk in November 2022, the film explores themes of isolation, alienation and racial trauma. Madinah carries a white mannequin out to sea. This process is physically and mentally tiring reflecting the impacts whiteness has on Black bodies. Through this action Madinah is attempting to overcome the burden of whiteness and to expose how it shapes the lived experiences of Black people.
Call When You Reach Film Credits:
Concept and Performance – Madinah Farhannah Thompson
Sound Design – Josh Banham
Cinematography – Joy Kisuka
Movement Direction – Florence Peake
Residency Support – Norwich Theatre
Residency Support – Live Art Development Agency
Supported using public funding by Arts Council England
'Black backs have a long history of carrying loads - white loads'
Living While Black - Guilaine Kinouani
Prophecies
I dragged you from the earth
bore you
and still I bear
our history is long
intertwined
like poison
all I want is to shake you off
violently
put you down
heavily
drag only myself forwards
it's too hot
a drop of sweat drips down my chest
all I want is for you to be gone from here
from my vicinity
all I want is to be free
Holding me down
holding me tight
you'll never let me go
my image defines you
and your power
where are we going
if not to our deaths together
the end calling for new relations
neither can live while the other survives
Madinah Farhannah Thompson is a Norfolk-based visual artist and writer whose work challenges the pervasive misrepresentation of Black female bodies within Western societies. She aims to disrupt and deconstruct harmful stereotypes that uphold white supremacy, using her work to navigate these limiting narratives.
Thompson's multidisciplinary approach includes performance, collage, film, and writing. Her project "Call When You Reach" investigates the impact of trauma on the physical body, exploring themes of disconnection and the process of surrender for Black
people.
Thompson received a Distinction in MA Performance Making at Goldsmiths, University of London and graduated with First Class
Honours in BA Fine Art from The Cass School of Art (London Metropolitan University) where she received the Owen Rowley Prize for
her installation and performance lecture "No Black Girls Sorry"
.
Thompson has exhibited and performed at venues such as The Mall Galleries, The Royal Academy and The Southbank Centre, with
her film Saliva & Tears/Underneath You receiving The Ingram Prize in 2020.
Hate
It's simple
And yet
you are mine
and I am yours
always.
no fire escapes here
we will burn together
resolved in ashes formed in the dust
unless.
we expose this thing
the horror of it
its gruesome form
and I release you to the water
water. site of our first encounter
my rape
your pillage
when you asked for my hand
And now it is winter.
we are versed in our union
I prop you up
I am your prop
weighted.
you weigh me down
