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The UK writer, photographer and journalist Johny Pitts provides the third and final contribution to the Reflections series. Find out more about the previous contributions here.

Johny Pitts is the curator of the online journal Afropean.com, a platform dedicated to the Afro-European diaspora. In his book, Afropean: Notes from Black Europe, he shares a powerful personal story of exploring Black experience in various European cities.

As a writer, photographer and broadcast journalist, Johny has contributed to The Guardian, The New Statesman and The New York Times, among other publications. As a TV presenter, he has appeared on MTV, the BBC and ITV1. He recently wrote and presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary exploring Black identity through the music of his African American father, who was a member of the UK Northern Soul group The Fantastics.

Afropean: Notes from Black Europe won the Jhalak Prize 2020 and is shortlisted for the Bread and Roses Award 2020. In addition, Johnny has received a number of awards for his work exploring African-European identity, including a Decibel Penguin Prize, a European Network Against Racism (ENAR) award and a Society of Authors Travelling Grant.

Read more

Read an extract from Afropean: Notes from Black Europe here.

Receive Reflections

If you would like to receive Reflections by post or email, please write to gdthyself@hetnieuweinstituut.nl, indicating your preference and including your address. The amount of physical letters is limited, so they will be sent on a first come, first served basis.

Recipients are invited to share their own reflections on paper, upload them to the web magazine and send them to others. 

date
03/08/2020
through
14/08/2020
language
English
 
location

Het Nieuwe Instituut
Museumpark 25
3015 CB Rotterdam

entrance

Free
 

As part of the closing event for The Ummah Chroma’s installation, G/D THYSELF: Spirit Strategy On Raising Free Black Children, a special programme of short films, including the world premiere of Johny Pitts’ film The Afropean Express (2020), will be screened on Saturday 22 August.

Still from The Afropean Express, a film by Johny Pitts (2020).

G/D THYSELF: Spirit Strategy On Raising Free Black Children was made possible thanks to the generous support of:

Het Nieuwe Instituut
The Ummah Chroma
Marina Otero Verzier (Director of Research), Katía Truijen (Senior Researcher)
Lauri Faggioni
Erin WIle
Maud Vervenne
International Film Festival Rotterdam
Stichting Bevordering van Volkskracht