‘Pride’ with Hélène Selam Kleih

Pride is a celebration of our truest, radiant selves and a defiance against those who expect us to dim our own light. Pride is, in many ways, the opposite of fragility. In this event, we're diving into why fragility is still seen as a weakness and the toxic language that encourages men to suppress their emotions.

MEET THE SPEAKER: HÉLÈNE SELAM KLEIH

Hélène is a writer and publisher currently training in Psychotherapy at Regents University, and is primarily concerned with the politics of language and its ability to elevate the voices of those marginalised, ultimately working towards the depoliticisation of language. Her work concentrates on inter-generational trauma as a result of displacement and colonisation, particularly interrogating the lived realities of Eritrean refugees and the Francophone Caribbean. She is the writer and founder of HIM + HIS, a charity and anthology on men and mental health, and currently works alongside psychotherapy practices offering resources to young Black men in the boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth in London.

How will you unfurl yourself fully? How will you extend safety and solidarity so that we all may be unapologetically ourselves?

Chloe AyoDeji Filani, Artist of Poetry, Performance, Black Feminism, Public Speaker and workshop facilitator. Her artistic practise/poetry works with her lived experience of being a black trans woman and the broader themes of identity of power structures and finding hope in the imagination and storytelling.

She’s performed poetry at Prim Black and Burberry, Blackgirl picnic, Writerz Scribez, Home gallery, Touching Bass, 180 soho House and much more.