Devised, Composed and Performed by Shaaray Sharif

‘Unjust’ is a postcolonial hybrid performance that combines sonic art and intermedia performance to disrupt the marginalisation and routine discrimination of people of colour. Through this form, it interrogates the ongoing cycles of oppression and the systematic erasure of people of colour. Drawing from bell hooks’ argument that marginality must move beyond an acceptance of erasure and become the site of resistance itself (hooks, 1989), the performance attempts to create an alternative space using sonic art and intermediality to signpost the rebuilding of the marginalised self. Building on Sarah Ahmed’s feminist postcolonial perspective, which asserts that whiteness shapes the orientation of space (Ahmed, 2007), this performance explores tensions within the colonial structures of physical and perceptual space. ‘Unjust’ defies conventional notions of performer and space using sonic material, projected text, videos, and a silent, static/moving body to encourage the audience to rethink the way we hear, see, and understand people of colour and in doing so aims to create a potential site for resistance to marginalisation, enabling new ways of seeing and hearing people of colour. 

‘Unjust’ grapples with the complexities of the subject’s relationship to everyday discrimination and the translation of trauma to performance. Taking inspiration from Selina Thompson’s project Salt, in which she retraced the Transatlantic Slave Triangle while grappling with the afterlife of slavery and colonialism, Thompson breaks down salt rocks on stage as she tells deeply personal stories, embodying the shared labour of negotiating racism and the ongoing work of healing. The subject in ‘Unjust’ borrows from Thompson’s salt metaphor and experiments with the reclaiming of self through the destruction and reconstruction of fabric in the performance space. ‘Unjust’ utilises the theory of sound semiotics to explore how sonic material can viscerally portray the intensity of marginalisation and discrimination. Taking inspiration from Lawrence Kendrick’s reflections in the “No Room for Racism” campaign, where sound expressed isolation and the weight of systemic injustice, Kendrick frames sound semiotics as “a secret language of audio that can subtly influence our perception of a narrative” (String and Tins, 2025). In ‘Unjust’, the idea of subtle influence is expanded through the sonic material, where symbols of absence, repetition, and interruption aim to amplify the subject’s experience of isolation and the process of reclaiming power. The piece also uses sonic and visual disruption to challenge traditional forms of closure and harmony, reflecting Susan McClary’s critique of musical ‘tonal closure’ as gendered and racialised (McClary, 1991). McClary’s argument that Western music often uses resolution as a metaphor for patriarchal, heteronormative ideals informs the sonic choice of interrupting the harmonic resolution. Instead, the sonic structure intentionally fractures, loops, layers, and distorts, disrupting any harmony that was building. The subject’s refusal to end the piece harmoniously, to provide a neat conclusion, mirrors the ongoing struggle of marginalised voices being heard within Western frameworks. In the past, the subject has explored other ways of creating postcolonial performance, with the most recent project utilising choreography; however, the subject grappled with the challenges of signposting change and educating white audiences on new ways of looking. In ‘Unjust’, the tearing of fabric becomes a physical act of defiance, externalising the subject’s pain, anger, and hopelessness experienced as a person of colour, making visible the constant battle for survival in oppressive systems. The subject’s work is often informed by artists who similarly interrogate structures of oppression through interdisciplinary work and utilising the theories and methods of Selina Thompson, Lawrence Kendrick and Susan McClary, ‘Unjust’ continues pushing the subjects practice in creating her first hybrid performance that explores the complex dynamics of power, resistance, and marginalisation through sound, projection and a performing body with the hope of using these theories and philosophies as a way to make change. 

Building on Edward Said’s Orientalism (1978), which critiques the colonial gaze and its positioning of bodies of colour as passive or spectacle, frames this exploration by critiquing how colonial structures position the ‘Other’ as both visible and voiceless. ‘Unjust’ also engages with Gayatri Spivak’s concept of the ‘subaltern’, exploring the silencing of marginalised voices. Using distortion on the voiceover and interrupting visuals, the performance reflects Spivak’s assertion that ‘the subaltern cannot speak’—yet. ‘Unjust’ subverts conventional modes of expression, proposing a space where marginalised bodies can reclaim power by disrupting dominant forms of communication. The performance also confronts structural erasure, informed by Koa Beck’s White Feminism (2021) and its critique of the exclusion of women of colour from dominant feminist narratives. The subject’s presence in the space asserts refusal, occupying a position that demands visibility within abstraction. This hybrid performance—intertwining sound, a performing body, and projection—repositions the space as one of non-conformity and offers another form of resistance through embracing the existence of people of colour in white dominated societies. Situated in the field of sonic art and grounded in postcolonial performance, ‘Unjust’ insists on the visibility, agency, and power of people of colour in spaces historically designed to exclude them. 

Bibliography –   

Bell Hooks: hooks, b. (1989). Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. South End Press. 

Sara Ahmed: Ahmed, S. (2007). A Phenomenology of Whiteness. Feminist Theory, pp. 149-168.  

Edward Said: Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.  

Gayatri Spivak: Spivak, G. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak?. In: C. Nelson and L. Grossberg, eds., Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, pp. 271-313.  

Susan McClary: 
McClary, S. (1991). Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality. University of Minnesota Press.  

Koa Beck: 
Beck, K. (2021). White Feminism: From the Suffragists to the Influencers and Who They Leave Behind. Simon & Schuster.  

Michael Tsang:  

Tsang, M. (2021). Decolonial? Postcolonial? What does it mean to ‘decolonise ourselves’?  

Newcastle University   

Selina Tompson:  

Tompson, S. (2016 -2020). Salt. https://selinathompson.co.uk/projects/salt/  

 String and Tins, 2025. Crafting ‘No Room For Racism’: A Sonic Tribute to Diversity. String and Tins.  https://www.stringandtins.com/news/crafting-no-room-for-racism-a-sonic-tribute-to-diversity  

Tahera Aziz: 

Aziz, T. 2019. Representing Stephen Lawrence. London South Bank University. https://researchportal.lsbu.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/6338277/838d46e7_digicom_RepresentingStephenLawrence_Aziz_final.pdf 

Performed at the Fields Performance Festival, April - May 2025