GO FEARLESS #1

An archive and community project exploring the legacies and future(s) of global majority cultural leaders in Scotland.

GO FEARLESS #1 is a new project from Project Zanana that seeks to archive and cultivate global majority cultural leaders living and working in Scotland.

This project pays homage to Black, Asian, mixed heritage, leaders of colour in Scotland driving not only culture but new ways of working forward. They are the creative visionaires, community actualisers, universe-builders, trend-setters and rule-breakers of the past, present and future. Global Majority leaders work within, around and through the existing dominant systems. Navigating a complexity that while challenging and draining also begs the question what else is possible?

Leadership will be defined broadly throughout this project. Being a leader doesn’t look like just one thing but at its heart it is people who influence, motivate and support others to contribute toward movements, initatives and collective goals.

GO FEARLESS #1 starts with gathering the stories. If you’re interested in getting involved or want to know more about the project then please email zanana@pero.world.

Project Zanana is interested in archiving as the seeds for our future, GO FEARLESS will be a sourcebook for the commons on what cultural leadership looks like today and a guide for those starting out tomorrow. Project Zanana is a practice-led project by Veronique AA Lapeyre, rooted in her interests in anthropology, cultural production, digital storytelling. A key concern is about cultural erasure, histories and impacts that are being lost to the sands of time or wilfully kept out of the national records.

GO FEARLESS #1 is supported by Creative Scotland.

ABOUT Project Zanana

Starting in 2018, PZ’s activities have shape-shifted over time according to the need, interest, and challenges that face the global majority communities in Scotland. At its heart, PZ seeks to create moments for conversations, reflections and explorations - looking to find ways to support our existing creative community and encourages new possibilities.

The founding event programme across 2018-2020, the Zanana Socials sought to reduce isolation and those siloed working in different disciplines, by bringing Creatives of Colour together in a safe space to share stories and spark solutions to challenges. 2022-present, PZ has focused on supporting artists and arts workers to unlock their own ambitions through free coaching.

FOOTNOTES

1) GO FEARLESS is a phrase Veronique heard on the radio as a teenager during a segment on indie rappers in the states. It’s stuck with her, and coming from a family that likes mottos, it has often reverberated in her brain - especially during times when grit and resilience where needed during her 18 year career in the cultural sector and creative industries in Scotland.

2) The image is Unicorn old and new by Scott Sutherland via Creative Commons. The unicorn is Scotland’s national animal, “with its white horse-like body and single spiralling horn, the unicorn is a symbol of purity, innocence and power in Celtic mythology. Legend also tells that their horns can purify poisoned water, such is the strength of their healing power. These proud, untameable creatures are fiercely independent and famously difficult to capture or conquer, which will sound familiar to anyone who has read their Scottish history. Even though unicorns are mythological, Scots have always felt drawn to what they represent.” (James Walsh, National Trust for Scotland).

It seems a fitting icon when talking about leadership, as one has to embody these direct and driven unicorn characteristics in order to bring our ideas and projects into the world. Often global majority leaders are multi-disciplinary or are bringing new ideas or new models to life - which can cause tension with those who would like status quo and order. Undefinable, many attempt to put us into boxes and this can cause additional thorny terrains that need to be navigated. And yet, the Unicorn brings life-force and healing at times of real need. Care, collectivism, slow working and restorative practice are fundamental parts of global majority leaders practice that are both cherished by their communities and extracted by the wider systems.

The unicorn in this project also becomes a subvervise motif, a symbol of the sub-concious ideas about purity, colour and provenance that global majority leaders need to navigate regardless of whether they were born here or have made Scotland their home.

As the photo shows, an old unicorn statue alongside a new one - what alchemy happens in the transformation?