STIRLING PRIZE WITH MUYIWA OKI

Headlines were made over the summer when the youngest ever, and first ever black president of The RIBA was elected: https://www.dezeen.com/2022/08/02/muyiwa-oki-black-president-riba/. His victory resulted from grassroots activism, gaining the support of the likes of Future Architects' Front and United Voices of the World (section for architectural workers). I believe the success of the activism I was involved in had helped embolden those in architecture seeking progressive change and had instilled confidence that collective organising works. It felt like there was momentum for positive change in architecture all happening at once.

In October Muyiwa invited me to join him to go to The Stirling Prize at RIBA. I was honoured to attend. We both wore pieces from my new collection Time to Rebuild. This is the very collection I had wanted to shoot outside The RIBA in front of the building's gorgeous Art Deco facade, but has been turned away back in January: https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/riba-blocks-venue-hire-to-bartlett-whistleblower

Those I met over the course of the evening included: Olly Wainwright of The Guardian, Sumita Singha, Will Ing and Fran Williams of The Architect's Journal, Maryam Al Irhayim and Marsha Ramroop. Just the day before Wainright had written a forward looking piece about Muyiwa's upcoming presidency: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/12/muyiwa-oki-black-president-riba-