Hamja Ahsan

Speaker Bio:
Hamja Ahsan is an artist, writer, activist and curator based in London and Maastricht. He is the author of the book Shy Radicals: Antisystemic Politics of the Militant Introvert, and was recently awarded the Grand Prize at Ljubljana Biennial 2019 for the art work Aspergistan Referendum based on it. He is the founder and co-curator of the DIY Cultures, a festival of creative activism, zines and independent publishing since 2013. He was shortlisted for the Liberty human rights award for Free Talha Ahsan campaign on extradition and detention without trial under the War on Terror. His recent writing was anthologised in No Colour Bar: Black Art in Action 1960-1990. He has presented art projects at PS1 MOMA New York, Tate Modern, Gwangju Biennale, Guild Gallery New York, Shaanakht festival Pakistan and Shilpa Academy, Bangladesh; with forthcoming exhibitions in Glasgow International 2020 and CCA Warsaw Poland. He is currently a resident artist at Jan Van Eyck Academy 2020-2021 in Netherlands. He is on the editorial board of the Radical Mental Health magazine Asylum. You can follow his work on Instagram and Twitter @shyradicals and @hamjaahsan

Presentation: Rethinking Health Practice through Antisystemic Introvert

Ahsan talk will discuss how his work of speculative fiction the book Shy Radicals: Antisystemic Politics of the Militant can be used as a way of iluminated mental health practice. How can Staff rethink of access and communication in healthcare? What is the role of silence in healing? How can we rethink diversity of representation and communication through the Introvert axis? Ahsan will talk about how Shy Radicals has been adopted as an influential work amongst neurodiversity, crip and disability politics. He outlines the works' roots within the mental health zine collection as a way of rethinking the knowledge-power axis.