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The Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our events as accessible as possible for every audience member. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
– Information about access on site at the gallery is available here https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/visit/access/
– This includes information about Lift access; Borrowing wheelchairs & seating; Assistance Animals; Parking; Toilets and baby care facilities; Blind & Partially Sighted Visitors; Subtitles and transcripts; British Sign Language (BSL) and hearing induction loops; Deaf Messaging Service (DMS).
About This Event
– This event takes place in the Zilkha Auditorium at Whitechapel Gallery
– You must purchase a ticket to attend the event. Concession tickets are available. If you require a Personal Assistant to support your attendance, we can offer them a seat free of charge, but it must be arranged in advance.
– If the ticket price affects your attendance, please email tickets@whitechapelgallery.org to be added to the guest list (no questions asked, but dependent on availability).
– This event is suitable for those over the age of 16
– We are unable to provide British Sign Language interpretation for this event
– We are unable to provide live closed captioning or CART for this event.
– This event last approximately 1.5 hours. There are no rest breaks currently scheduled during this event.
– An audio recording of the event can be obtained by emailing publicprogrammes@whitechapelgallery.org following the event.
Transport
– To the best of our knowledge, there are no planned disruptions to local transport on the date of the event.
– Our nearest train station – Aldgate East Underground (1 min) is not wheelchair accessible. The closest wheelchair accessible stations are Whitechapel (15 min), Shoreditch High Street (15 min) or Liverpool Street (15 min).
– Free parking for Blue Badge holders is available at the top of Osborn Street in the pay and display booths for an unlimited period. Spaces are available on a first come, first served basis.
Live Recording
Please note: we audio record all events for the Whitechapel Gallery Archive and possible future online publication via Soundcloud.
Join celebrated poet, scholar and activist Alexis Pauline Gumbs as she explores her latest book, illuminating the extraordinary life of acclaimed ‘Black feminist lesbian warrior poet’ Audre Lorde.
In Survival is a Promise, Gumbs positions Lorde as a survivor: of childhood disability injustice, of her best friend’s suicide, of the atomic age. She was a college activist against nuclear arms. A mother who knew poetry could help her children survive a racist world. And, ultimately, a cancer survivor, who understood the war going on within her cells was connected to the struggle against oppression taking place all around her. In Gumbs’ account, Lorde’s life and work swell to become a cosmic force, showing us the grand possibility of life together on earth.
Gumbs will be in conversation with the journalist Precious Adesina. Gumbs will also sign copies of Survival is a Promise after the event.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a poet, scholar and activist. She has published several books, including Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity, and Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, which won a Whiting Award in non-fiction. In 2023, Gumbs received a Windham Campbell Prize for her ‘luminous, visionary poetry’.
Precious Adesina is a London-based journalist, radio host and public speaker with a particular focus on the intersection between arts and culture and social politics. She regularly writes for major publications including The New York Times, BBC, Financial Times, The Economist and cultural magazines including Kinfolk, i-D, RA Magazine, and many others. She has been invited to speak at several institutions, including Whitechapel Gallery, Nottingham Contemporary, and University College London, her alma mater.
