Delving into the rich history of the area and the locals who inhabit it, Toxteth Rising shines a light on what makes this community so unique while interrogating its historic inequalities and contemporary marginalisation.
The work is part of Baff Akoto's UP:RISE project.
Marking the 10th anniversary of the “UK Riots” of 2011 - described by the artist as “the first uprisings of the digital era” - UP:RISE explores the causes, history and understanding of English civil unrest in the digital age. Akoto is interested in the way that technology shaped the “UK Riots” and how society has since evolved along the same fault lines that erupted that summer.
The QR codes will be located in the communities of Birmingham, Liverpool, London and other cities where incidents of unrest were recorded during August 2011.
About Blue Saint
Daniel Sebuyange, known professionally as Blue Saint, is a rapper, singer-songwriter, spoken word poet and actor. Blue Saint’s work incorporates a range of political, social, philosophical and cultural references with themes usually centred around social injustices.
A winner of The Poetry Society’s SLAMbassadors Award at fourteen, a MOBO BeMOBO Award nominee at the age of fifteen and winner of Merseyrail Soundstation 2014 at the age of twenty, a prize celebrating breaking new talent in the Liverpool music scene. Blue Saint has also gone on to receive various accolades and achievements for his music, community work and activism.
