Tia & Nadine, BBZ
Can you tell us about BBZ and why you started it?
Tia: BBZ is an exhibition and club night, which is focused on eradicating misogyny and is centred on queer women and gender-neutral women of colour. I think the main reason why we started it was because we didn’t feel like there was a space for us to all gather and have genuine good vibes.
Obviously the community aspect is really key to the club night. Is it a really powerful support network that you’ve built up?
Tia: Yeah. I’m dumbfounded sometimes just at the amount of incredible women that we’ve met. I feel like generally speaking my friendship circle had a bit of a crap year and then this year it has been so beautiful and powerful because I’ve met so many people who I’ve connected with that hasn’t been just a superficial connection; I know that it’s as a result of doing BBZ. It’s sick!
Speaking of club nights what do you think of the club scene in London at the moment?
Nadine: When we wanted to start BBZ the London scene was trash! Absolute trash–metaphorically and physically but in recent months it feels like things are changing. I have a bunch of friends who run a night called Touch and Base and you’re not allowed your phone, well you are but no phones on the dance floor; it’s called a dance for a reason you’re meant to dance. It always turns into a sweat-fest and you dance from as soon as you get there until you leave! Plus it’s in a tiny Nigerian restaurant in Brixton. There are a lot of parties now where they aim to reclaim certain spaces against gentrification e.g. Pussy Palace, Resis Dance, Batty Mama…with all these parties coming up you’re like thank God.
This interview is part of the BEAUTIFUL x POWERFUL collaboration with Nike.
See more from the collaboration >
Read the article in full via Riposte Magazine online: http://www.ripostemagazine.com/tia-nadine/
Companies
Riposte Magazine
- Publishing
BBZ
- Arts and Culture