Reflections on Racism 

In January 2020, on the eve of the Holocaust Memorial Day, my local bank and a Jamaican restaurant in South-East London were targeted with white supremacist, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi graffiti. Four months later, George Floyd, in the United States, was killed by a policeman, triggering a general outcry worldwide. Many Black Lives Matter demonstrations were to follow.

As someone who has directly experienced racism, I wanted to document this particular point in time, when both right-wing ideologies were attempting to gain a foothold, and the Black Lives Matter movement was gathering critical momentum. I decided to work within my network in London, looking for people who could give an insight into the racism they had experienced and the reflections and ideas they had about this topic. I conducted a series of conversations, interviews, and photoshoots.

Initially trained as a linguist, I soon realised that words and quotes from the interviews were particularly impactful and could be highly effective combined with the black and white pictures of the participants.

My initial focus was the experience and reflections of people of African descent, but I also explored the experiences of people of Chinese and Latin American descent.  

I entitled the project ‘Reflections on Racism’: reflections of the participants and reflections I wanted to trigger in the viewers. With these combinations of images and texts, I aim to share and convey the impact of racism on the lives of the sitters, the seriousness of the topic, and a certain strength. I also want to trigger reflections in the viewers. Although it is not a clear call to action, by raising awareness, I am hoping for a more inclusive society. 

I created the first limited and signed edition of the booklet with the first chapter of the work. If you would like to see it, do come to the Meet the Artist event at the Watergate on Sunday, the 24th of September, from 1 to 3 pm. Alternatively, you can just contact me AnnieGentilKraatz@Outlook.com.