All My Words Taste of Lead - Online Talk

Artist, writer and curator Cedar Lewisohn explores themes from his latest publication, The Marduk Prophecy and recent research in an online talk for TACO!. Stemming from his interest in Jamaican culture and dub poetry,  Cedar will touch on how patois has influenced common-use English, as well as appearing in dancehall, reggae and drill lyrics. Patois is a form of english creole language that is spoken throughout Jamaica.

Cedar is joined by Joan Hutchinson, Jamaican poet and teacher, and Paul Stephan, a Thamesmead-based drill artist, to discuss their work and use of language.

This talk is live via Zoom, please register for your free ticket through Eventbrite here. 

The talk will also be broadcast live, and available to listen again, on RTM.FM

The Marduk Prophecy is an artist’s publication by Cedar Lewisohn, published by Slimvolume, that takes the form of an image-led wordless comic book. Produced from handmade woodcuts and lino prints, the work’s images are sourced from objects from ancient African and Mesopotamian civilisations in museum collections.

Symbols of the contemporary world that refer to youth culture in the UK, such as Drill Music – the genre which former British Prime Minister Teresa May tried to ban for glamorising law-breaking – are also inserted into the book’s abstract narrative alongside a representation of the social and political issues around knife crime.

Lewisohn’s unassuming storyline draws unexpected parallels to examine tropes of colonialism and its construction of otherness and criminality, alongside issues connected to urban geography of the artist’s home city of London.

The Marduk Prophecy is available to purchase from the TACO! Shop.

 

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Cedar Lewisohn is an artist, writer and curator. He has worked on museum projects for institutions such as Tate Britain, Tate Modern and The British Council. He has published three books (Street Art, Tate 2008, Abstract Graffiti, Marrell, 2011, The Marduk Prophecy, Slimvolume, 2020) He has also edited and self-published numinous publications. Cedar curated the landmark Street Art exhibition at Tate Modern. He was the curator of the project “Outside The Cube” for HangarBicocca Foundation in Milan and in 2018 worked with Birmingham Museums on the project, Collecting Birmingham. He was curator of The Museum of London’s Dub London project and in 2020 was appointed as curator of Site Design for The Southbank Centre, London.


Joan Hutchinson is a writer, storyteller, actress, motivational speaker and teacher. She is also a producer and presenter for radio and TV. She has been writing poems and stories in the Jamaican Patois dialect for more than twenty years. Joan’s work includes the book of poems Meck Mi Tell Yuh, audio cassettes Dat Bumpy Head Gal, Jamaica Kin Teet and Everyting Jamaican, and the CDs Wild About Jamaica and Jamaica Ridim and Ryme.


Paul Stephan is a South East London rapper whose work explores the links between rap and drill. Since his debut in 2017, Paul has performed on the Colors Berlin Platform, and has been played on BBC Introducing, BBC 1xtra and Capital Xtra, as well as performing at House of Vans, London Fields Brewery, and various European festivals. Videos for recent singles Messy (with Quincy OG) and I Live Dat feature Paul’s hometown of Thamesmead.