Mutual Survival, Lorde’s Manifesto
- Artist: Paul Maheke
- Date: 2015
- Medium: Video, 2 flat screens, colour and sound (mono)
- Dimensions: duration: 17min, 50sec
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Mutual Survival, Lorde’s Manifesto” by Paul Maheke. The piece runs for 17 minutes and 50 seconds and appears on two floor‑based forty‑two‑inch LED smart screens that lean against a wall. In the left channel we see London’s Tropical Isles Carnival Dance Troupe rehearse in the Rose Lipman Community Centre; on the right we watch Jamila Johnson‑Smalls solo performance in the same space. The footage is shot in East London where Open School East ran from 2013 to 2017, a place that influenced Maheke’s interest in community and Black subjectivity.
The video carries subtitles drawn from Audre Lorde’s 1985 essay “I am Your Sister.” Phrases like “As a people, we should most certainly work together to end our common oppression,” appear on screen, followed by “We need to join our differences and articulate our particular strengths in the service of our mutual survivals.” The sound is a single deep bass line through a floor‑mounted subwoofer, unifying the two performances. The piece concludes with the subtitle, “In the end, no one will free us but ourselves,” inviting reflection on collective agency.
See it in person
Mutual Survival, Lorde’s Manifesto is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
