Artist Feature: SHADO MAG
2021 showcases the power of youth like never before. After a year of COVID-19, you might expect a stagnation in action and hope. However, it is young voices which have been shouting the loudest in calling out for the future they deserve. That is what @shado.mag's fourth issue underlines: that no matter the injustice or the prevailing atmosphere, youth will be leading the charge. So shado is asking: will you join them?
The issue is guest edited by @mikaelaloach, climate justice and anti-racism activist, and features interviews with, and articles by, other prominent voices from the new generation: young feminist writer Em O’Desser, anti-racism educator @angelarutura and ‘Martha Stewart for Socialists’ Grace Nkem - TikTok alias @bettyimages .
Illustration by @emim.k
Photography by @ines_hachou, @ghazalmia
Can you share something you learned from this project that will resonate with our community?
SM: In our most recent print issue, we have come to redefine youth as a mindset – a specific energy and vision which has been a mobilising force in movements around the world. One of the most exciting things about the project has been learning from and listening to the changes young people are envisioning for a different future.
As the leaders of the imagined and possible future, youth are best placed to transform the situations they have inherited. It would not necessarily be right to say that young people today are more engaged with activism than in previous decades. However, we believe the world as it is today politicises and connects young people in a particular way, giving an urgency to their actions and integrating activism into their daily lives.
As we are seeing the world change, so are the ways that youth are challenging the status quo, whether that be through online mobilisation, gaming spaces or local organising and activism.
The most exciting thing about this edition has been to show the diversity of experiences faced by young people, and more crucially, to honour the unifying force binding young people together through their commitment to a different tomorrow.
You can find out more about our YOUTH issue HERE .
What does being a feminist mean to you?
SM: We think feminism as a term has been weaponised in some cases: we don’t accept it as ‘partial’ identity and, as a concept, it doesn’t belong on the end of TERF or white feminism – and shouldn’t be associated with these beliefs. For us, the only feminism that exists is intersectional to the very core. This intersectionality was a theme we explored in our second print issue where we untied and celebrated the work of feminists around the world. You can see more HERE .
Being a feminist is rooted in an understanding of shared struggles, coalition building and equality for all – but also to understanding struggles which might not pertain exactly to you or your lived experience. It’s about learning from the strengths and weaknesses of previous movements and building on that to create a space that is inclusive with a bold vision for the future.
We are continually inspired by the wealth of incredible artists, writers and creatives working in this space who have reintroduced a sense of optimism for the movement of feminism moving forward.
Illustration by @tinuke.illustratioin
