Artist Tai Shani was born in London in 1976, grew up in Goa, and has lived in Brussels, New York and Florence. She began her career in fashion photography before turning to video art, immersive installations, performance and sculpture. In 2019 she was jointly awarded the Turner prize with the three other shortlisted artists. Shani is co-founder and co-curator of digital film channel Transmissions, and is a tutor in critical practice at the Royal College of Art. Her new work, The Neon Hieroglyph, for Manchester international festival’s digital series Virtual Factory, is available online at virtual-factory.co.uk.
1. Film
The Working Class Goes to Heaven (Elio Petri, 1971)
It’s an incredible film about factory workers, striking and unions. It focuses on Lulu, who takes great pride in his ability to work incredibly quickly, and he’s used as a measure of efficiency for the others. So everyone else suffers, and ultimately it comes back to hurt him. There is a very strong atmosphere of anxiety in the film: it depicts the visceral reality of working every day in awful conditions and living in poverty. It’s a brilliant portrayal of tensions between reformist leftist positions and revolutionary ones.
2. Book
I think about this book a lot. Boyer writes about being diagnosed with cancer, its effect on her and the people around her, and this difficult encounter with your own mortality. She also lays bare the way politics and power govern every aspect of our lives, including the way you receive care, who receives care, the genderedness of breast cancer. There’s a generosity to her work: she talks about Audre Lorde’s cancer diaries, and Susan Sontag as well. I am in awe of her ability to bring together radical politics, poetic artefacts, histories and personal narrative.
3. Music
Sault: Untitled (Black Is)
I don’t know much about this band – they’re quite determined to remain anonymous. This album came out during the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests last year, and it really stopped me in my tracks. It brings together different genres: it’s a mixture of jazz, soul, funk, Motown harmonies, doo-wop. There are songs that are incredibly sad, others that are very rousing. They’re London-based and their lyrics talk about the black British experience. There is a sentiment that, “Oh, this is happening in America, it wouldn’t happen here”, which is simply not true. This album speaks to that too.
4. Activists
Sisters Uncut
They are a trans-inclusive, intersectional feminist group who led the vigil for Sarah Everard. They’ve been incredible at organising protests about the policing bill the government are trying to put through, which would basically make protest illegal. After the last elections, I felt really depressed about the way the left is treated in British society and the press, so I was happy to see Sisters Uncut bring together different grassroots activists in a way that feels necessary at a moment like this.
5. Documentary
Timewatch: Operation Gladio (BBC, 1992)
This is a mind-blowing but depressing documentary about something that, if you heard about it in a conversation, you might think is a wild conspiracy theory. It’s an account of postwar suppression of communism and the left: there were these special “stay-behind” cells, which were posted in the event of a communist invasion – they would be on site, ready to be activated. They often collaborated with extremist rightwing groups to do the groundwork of their ideologically motivated operations. It makes you think very differently about power, governance and democracy.
6. Florist
Roka Brings Flowers, Camberwell, London
One day I saw a cart on the street selling exquisite, wild-looking flowers. I started to treat myself to a small bunch of flowers every week. During lockdown it’s like bringing a little piece of paradise into your home. Roka [Trzecia, the owner] often has hydrangeas, pincushions, spray carnations – which are derided but which I absolutely love. They’re not the most expensive flowers necessarily, but she has a real knack of putting together something that feels special, and the colours are always incredible. It’s been a real lifeline.
