By Ndzalama Rodney Sihlangu
Working at Shades of Noir as a member of the social and content team has provided me with a unique working environment that I didn’t expect when I first arrived at UAL.
I remember working on a project on the urban regeneration of Brixton and my tutor recommending a Safe Space Crit with the Shades of Noir (SoN) team. The conversation that followed with Samia Malik was in itself unique, as I didn’t feel I had to provide additional context around my intentions for the project.
Usually when explaining my ideas I find myself reducing them to the most basic explanation such as “I’m making a book about South London’s young people.” This would then be followed by similar sentences to specify what I want to get out of the project but ultimately never really delving too deep into my personal ties with my research.
However, Samia’s understanding of Brixton allowed for a more engaging dialogue. She suggested I apply for one of the roles being advertised at SoN, which led me to the content produced by previous SoN writers.
It’s important to note at this point that I didn’t see myself as a writer at all since there was little academic or professional evidence that I could consistently write engaging pieces. Moreover, I still held on to my Year 8 English teacher explaining to my mother on parent’s evening that “Rodney doesn’t have the passion for English to be good at it.”
That said, throughout my MA and my time working at SoN, I’ve pushed myself to see writing as an extension of my craft as opposed to a skill on its own. Working under the supervision of Dr Deborah Gabriel and Melodie Holliday has been an important component of this, as their feedback on my writing has highlighted the impact of my content.
I often struggle to be impressed by myself so having mentors that can objectively describe what my work means to them has been an important step in gauging the power of my writing. Admittedly, being under-confident in my ability formed a false comfort zone which has been hard to break out of.
However, I hope to step further away from that by publishing my recent thesis project and perhaps even getting my work exhibited somewhere other than the UAL end of year showcase. Since I’ve never tried to do this before, who knows how this will go but having the courage to even attempt this is a big step for me.
Furthermore, being responsible for uploading the work of other content developers and offering relevant resources for SoN’s’ various social media outlets has kept me up to date with events pertaining to people of colour, the LGBTQIA and even the disabled community globally. If I wasn’t a part of the SoN team, I know I would be completely ignorant of the treatment of Canadian indigenous communities.
My Twitter timeline has now morphed from being predominantly sports-oriented to a mix of basketball enthusiasts and social commentators. My bookmarks are also largely filled with what I think would make good reading for the wider SoN community, underlining the shift in my social media diet since taking part in the programme.
Finally, I greatly appreciate the role Aisha Richards has played in encouraging me to review my position at SoN to maximise the effectiveness of my role within the team. Each day I contribute to SoN I do so considering how that contribution adds to its already impressive legacy. I can comfortably say that working within such a dedicated team of like-minded individuals has set a very high bar for future workplaces by offering a platform for collective growth as opposed to merely individual gain.
