Hannah: Directorial Architect
M E E T T H E T E A M
🔡 name? Hannah Adereti.
💼 position? Directorial Architect
🎨 favourite colour? Brown
🐙 which sea creature do you f/w the most?
Dolphins. Alexis Pauline Gumbs speaks about dolphins navigating pollution and climate change in her book “Undrowned.” She speaks about how they regathered, after a virus would kill thousands of dolphins in periods from the 90’s onwards. In a time where dolphins were lost, grieving and experiencing collateral damage from the capitalist systems humans created, they regathered. Made smaller pods. Regrew. Worked inter-generationally. Found each other across groups. Built sustainable units. Evidently, it has to be dolphins I f/w the most. In the midst of grief and loss, they adapted and prioritised life. As a gender queer child of care, my concept of family encompasses the creation of joy, truthful expression, deep care and a veracious love. Working as the Directorial Architect at onyx has given me the honour to continue co-developing and constructing the life affirming culture and infrastructure we have. Amid grief and loss, we prioritise life. We prioritise finding each other across marginalised identities and different locations. We seek intergenerational organising. And together we build new possibilities, reflective and sustainable, external from the systems that cause harm to our communities.
❣️what do you love about your role title?
Directorial Architect is such an apt description for my personality. I feel like my job in life is to speak life into people. I find this happens easily, because I am awestruck by the human experience, especially by those that are seemingly blind to their own dazzling light. If I can see the purpose, I can envision multiple ways this could be achieved. I love to plan. - expanding concepts, stretching them out to examine desires, strengths, weaknesses and risks. Then orientating towards our goal. I deeply believe that everyone’s perspective brought together can be even more beautiful than a kaleidoscope. I love to make room. THERE IS SPACE FOR EVERYONE. So having a role where I can ensure everyone’s voice is heard at onyx and is amplified in the structures we create brings me immense pride.
⚡️ black creative(s) grounding you right now?
Currently, I receive a lot of serotonin, inspiration, and affirmation from Curry Hackett’“s work. He’s an architect, utilising AI to create visuals of worlds that centre Blackness. Curry’s work seems devoid of time, has so many possibilities and challenges western perspectives of life.
🔮 describe the future of onyx in three words?
Bun. Babylon. Down. Jk Jk (Not really) - Life Affirming Infrastructure
These role titles were formed using @theslowfactory’s ‘Collective Roles for Liberation’
as a template.
Illustration by Tosin Akinkunmi (@artbytosin)
📚 what’s your favourite point in onyx’s manifesto & why?
“connecting Black creatives in different cities and regions and hosting intentional thematic gatherings wherever possible with the help of assisting Black-only creative spaces already existing there.” I love this section because it speaks to the communal nature of this work. We want to ensure that onyx is reflective of the communities they serves and so embedding a transnational feminist concept to a radical magazine offers dialogues and discourse offers dialogue and discourse beyond Western experiences of oppression.
🎧 hyperfocus song?
The Shindellas - Fear Has No Place