Joshua Woolford

I’m a transdisciplinary artist whose work is grounded in cultural research and personal experiences of being a member of the queer Afro-Caribbean diaspora living in England. Within my work I actively challenge prevailing narratives and question our position within the wider socio-political landscape by centering embodied knowledge and intuition in response to violently oppressive systems. I see reflection, transition and movement as powerful and disruptive states which provoke critical dialogues. Often I’m coming back to the question ‘how does it feel?’. Through my practice I am ultimately forging a deeper understanding of my own identity and hopes for the future.

HOW DOES YOUR SUBMITTED WORK RESPOND TO THE CIRCA 20:25 MANIFESTO?
The colonial and capitalist systems which run on the dehumanisation of others to create and maintain material wealth must fall. Myth and absurdity become queering tools to break away from the hegemony of current systems of power. What do we do when we are faced with the Sisyphusian task, an endless repetition? Refuge isn’t something that appears from nowhere, but something which needs to be built and maintained.‘Reform or Revolution’ invites us to spend time with this struggle, and consider what collective power is needed in order to create new realities outside failing systems of power.

IF AWARDED THE £30,000 CIRCA PRIZE, WHAT 10-MINUTE WORK WOULD YOU CREATE – AND HOW WOULD IT EMBODY THE SPIRIT OF REFUGIA?
I will build upon my research into embodied forms of anticolonial and anticapitalist resistance and their implications for reimagining what refugia can be through field recordings, interviews and video montage. Archival material from movements across the Caribbean & Europe (Marronage, Chartism and Négritude) combined with conversations between historians, artists and activists will highlight how communities have succeeded in shaping their environment and countered various forms of oppression. New poetry, sound, public interventions and performance commissions will respond to these conversations – speculating beyond the parameters of existing social, political and organisational structures to explore what refugia could look, sound and move like.

FOLLOW JOSHUA WOOLFORD ON INSTAGRAM

Funding for the CIRCA PRIZE is generated entirely by the #CIRCAECONOMY, a circular model that reinvests proceeds from affordable art sold on CIRCA.ART into new public art commissions, charitable causes, art education and prizes. Since launching in 2020, the initiative has raised over £1 Million, placing artists and communities at the centre of an economy that continually reinvests in the future of art and culture.

The CIRCA PRIZE 2025 winners will be revealed LIVE in Piccadilly Circus on Monday 13 October, with a special 30-minute award ceremony starting at 20:00 BST. Don’t miss it!