Our Voices by Nikki Kilburn

SMHAF Podcast

Photographer and writer Nikki Kilburn is interested in exploring “how identity and lived experience creates complex realities”. Nikki was commissioned as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival's My Normality project to create a collection of “five empowered portraits of women of colour with a lived experience of racialised trauma” accompanied by an audio narrative of their voices telling their stories, in order to show “how the lived experience of racialised trauma creates othering and stigma”. Nikki Kilburn said: “It was really important for me to remain true to the identity and style of each woman in their portrait and spoken word narrative. We worked together to co-create how we would capture their visual representation and narrative. Each portrait was carefully created based on how each woman wanted to tell their story and my self-portrait transforms the dehumanising racism of white supremacy into an act of power. Whilst weaving the spoken narratives together I was mindful to stay true to each woman's individuality and elevate shared lived experience. The music, lyrics and my spoken word poem throughout the audio piece created a context for the stories to be knitted within. This process has been a beautiful, enriching healing experience for us all.” My Normality is supported by Creative Scotland.