Documenting Failure - Episode 3 - Key References
Key references:
In order of hearing the reference in the podcast.
Amahra Spence - Amahra Spence is an artist, curator, convener, strategist, researcher, systems designer and spatial practitioner. Inspired by social sculpture, her practice commits to infrastructure building, spatialising dream work, resource redistribution and platforming radical imagination as tactics for emancipation from systems of violence. She is most passionate about co-creating worlds and architectures that structurally safeguard the resistance, joy and collective imagination of oppressed peoples globally.
Christopher Samuel - Christopher Samuel is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is rooted in identity and disability politics. Often echoing the many facets of his own lived experience as a Black disabled man, his work tells stories, highlighting the often unseen experiences of his day to day life and those of others in similar circumstances. His practice includes small detailed ink drawings, film, print, audio, research, and large installations.
Samuel works alongside galleries, museums, archives and other institutions to address missing representation in our cultural spaces.
Grand Theft Auto - Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is an action-adventure video game series created by David Jones and Mike Dailly. Gameplay focuses on an open world where the player can complete missions to progress an overall story, as well as engage in various side activities. Most of the gameplay revolves around driving and shooting, with occasional role-playing and stealth elements.
PS One - PS one. The slimmer, lighter sibling to the PlayStation console, PS one was released in 2000 to make play more portable and affordable. The PlayStation[a] (codenamed PSX, abbreviated as PS, and retronymically PS1 or PS one) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment.
Don Kinch - Barbados born Don Kinch is a playwright and director. After moving to London in 1965, Kinch launched and edited Staunch Magazine in addition to establishing the performing company Staunch Poets and Players in 1975. Kinch moved to Birmingham in the late 1980’s where he developed the Third Dimension Theatre Company, and African Peoples Theatre, and in 2000 founded NuCentury Arts.
Black is Beautiful - The phrase “black is beautiful” referred to a broad embrace of black culture and identity. It called for an appreciation of the black past as a worthy legacy, and it inspired cultural pride in contemporary black achievements.
Disillusioned-having lost faith or trust in something formerly regarded as good or valuable
Marcus Garvey - Garvey was a Jamaican-born black nationalist who created a 'Back to Africa' movement in the United States. He became an inspirational figure for later civil rights activists.
Pan African - Pan-Africanism is a movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples of Africa along with all peoples of African descent. The belief extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe.
Birmingham Museum - Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is housed in a stunning Grade II* listed landmark building that has watched over the city’s Chamberlain and Victoria Squares since 1885, welcoming millions of visitors over the years.
Decolonising - Decolonisation typically refers to the withdrawal of political, military and governmental rule of a colonised land by its invaders. Decolonising education, however, is often understood as the process in which we rethink, reframe and reconstruct the curricula and research that preserve the Europe-centred, colonial lens.
Entrepreneur - someone who starts their own business, especially when this involves seeing a new opportunity.
Malkia Devich-Cyril - Malkia Devich-Cyril is an activist, writer and public speaker on issues of digital rights, narrative power, Black liberation and collective grief. Devich-Cyril is also the founding and former Executive Director of MediaJustice — a national hub boldly advancing racial justice, rights and dignity in a digital age.
Octavia Butler - Octavia Butler was a pioneering writer of science fiction. As one of the first African American and female science fiction writers, Butler wrote novels that concerned themes of injustice towards African Americans, global warming, women’s rights, and political disparity.
Nine Night - Nine-Night, also known as Dead Yard, is a funerary tradition originating from the Asante people of Western Africa and practiced in several Caribbean countries (primarily Jamaica). It is an extended wake that lasts for nine days, with roots from the Akan culture during a 9-day period of observing the dead known as Dabɔnɛ(say: dah-boh-neh). During this time, friends and family come together to the home of the deceased. They share their condolences and memories while singing hymns and eating food together.
Racialised Disparity - Racial disparity refers to the imbalances and incongruities between the treatment of racial groups, including economic status, income, housing options, societal treatment, safety, and myriad other aspects of life and society.
MAIA - MAIA grew out of relationships between artists in Birmingham and, says Amahra, ‘a shared commitment to mobilise that collective energy into collective action’.
Marginalised - Marginalisation describes both a process, and a condition, that prevents individuals or groups from full participation in social, economic and political life.
ABUELOS - an artist-led hotel and cultural space, grown from the spirit of Grandad's house.
Scratch Night - Scratch Night is a curated evening of short works-in-progress, showcasing four developing pieces across two halves. It offers artists the chance to test new material in front of a live audience and gather feedback, while audiences get an early look at bold new work in a relaxed, social setting.
Hood Futures Studio - Hood Futures Studio is an infrastructure and cultural movement built from and for the ends. The organisation seeks to address hood displacement through spatial, climate, and economic justice. The studio supports Black life, community wealth, and interdependencies.
Disability Justice - The Disability Justice Project supports Deaf/Disabled people to make our rights to independent living and access to goods and services a reality.
Ostracised - to avoid someone intentionally, or to prevent someone from taking part in the activities of a group.
Nkem Ndefo - Nkem Ndefo, MSN, CNM, RN (she/they), is the founder of Lumos Transforms and creator of The Resilience Toolkit, a model that fosters embodied self-awareness, supports stabilization from the impacts of personal and collective trauma, and nurtures adaptive capacity in the face of stress—all within an ecologically sensitive and social justice-oriented framework.
Lumos Transforms - Lumos Transforms is a social enterprise founded in 2015 to shepherd individuals, communities, and organizations through positive change. Whether people are dealing with unpleasant symptoms, overwhelming stress, difficult past experiences, or unjust circumstances, we meet clients exactly where they are– providing responsive solutions that help people feel better, prepare for change, and unlock their inner potential. By empowering individuals to access wellness, grow resilience, and cultivate beneficial behaviors, we initiate a transformation process that ripples outward. The ultimate goal? Creating socio-cultural systems that are healthy, balanced, interdependent, sustainable, and equitable.
Alchemy - Alchemy was a form of speculative thought that, among other aims, tried to transform base metals such as lead or copper into silver or gold.
Leo Sun/Moon - Leo is the 5th sign in the zodiac. It is a masculine sign and their symbol is the lion.
Zodiac - an imaginary band in the heavens centered on the ecliptic that encompasses the apparent paths of all the planets and is divided into 12 constellations or signs each taken for astrological purposes to extend 30 degrees of longitude.
Scorpio Rising - Scorpio as a zodiac sign is emotionally intense and perceptive. It’s a fixed water sign, co-ruled by driven Mars and transformative Pluto. Much like a frozen body of water, Scorpios exude an aura of mystery and staying power. Socially, they navigate a room slowly and with intuition. At the same time, Scorpios stand out for their unparalleled drive, passion, and work ethic. Symbolized by the small but venomous scorpion, they might appear reserved at first glance, but they’re fiercely protective of both themselves and those they cherish.
Accounting - Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entities, such as businesses and corporations.
Arts Council England - They are the national development agency for creativity and culture. We help people in every corner of the country to experience and benefit from creativity.
National Lottery - The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery established in 1994 in the United Kingdom.National Lottery players raise more than £30 million a week for good causes across the UK.
Selina Thompson Ltd - Internationally-acclaimed, Brummie, Black & disabled-led performance company.
Ableism - Ableism is a word for unfairly favouring non-disabled people. Ableism is discrimination and social prejudice against physically or mentally disabled people.
Access to Work - Access to Work is a publicly funded employment support programme that aims to help more disabled people start or stay in work.
Alice Wong - Alice Wong (March 27, 1974 – November 14, 2025) was an American disability rights activist and writer based in San Francisco, California. Dedicated to amplifying the voices and experiences of the disabled community, her career focused on challenging systemic ableism through storytelling, advocacy, and community organizing.
Disabled Oracles - A "disabled oracle" refers primarily to a metaphorical concept used by activists, notably Alice Wong, to describe disabled people as prescient, insightful figures who foresee the future of society, particularly regarding crises, technology, and health.
COVID- Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Department for Work and Pensions - The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK’s biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers.
Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice - Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a queer disabled femme writer, organiser, performance artist and educator of Burgher/Tamil Sri Lankan and Irish/Roma ascent. This the fifth book of six, a collection of personal and political essays that examines disability justice and interdependence from a queer POC (person of colour) perspective.
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha - (born April 21, 1975) is a Canadian-American poet, writer, educator, and social activist. Their writing and performance art focuses on documenting the stories of queer and trans people of color, abuse survivors, mixed-race people and diasporic South Asians and Sri Lankans. A central concern of their work is the interconnection of systems of colonialism, abuse and violence. They are also a writer and organizer within the disability justice movement.
Piepzna-Samarasinha is queer, non-binary, and disabled.
Carer - A carer is a person of any age who provides unpaid care and support to a family member, friend or neighbour who is disabled, has an illness or long-term condition, or who needs extra help as they grow older.
Capitalism - Capitalism is an economic system where productive goods are owned by individuals or companies and used to earn a profit, while workers earn only wages.
Government - an organisation that officially manages and controls a country or region, creating laws, collecting taxes, providing public services, etc.
Subsidise - to pay part of the cost of something: eg Taxpayers shouldn't subsidise a golf course.
Culture Central - A collective voice for arts & culture in the West Midlands.
Radical Listening Week - Radical Listening Week brings together cultural workers, freelancers, organisations, and communities across the West Midlands to explore what equity looks like in practice.
Solidarity - Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes.