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How can language carry memory across generations? What is lost, reshaped, or left unsaid along the way?
Taking inspiration from Nhu Xuan Hua’s evocative exhibition Of Walking on Fire, this evening brings together three poets exploring the fragility of memory, language and family histories shaped by migration and cultural rupture.
Across the exhibition, Hua considers how words can evoke feelings and memories that we may not consciously recall, and how stories are communicated – or withheld – across generations. Responding to these themes, the poets reflect on the languages, silences, and stories carried through diasporic and family histories, and poetry’s capacity to hold stories that might otherwise be lost.
The evening will feature Hanan Issa, Seo Hye Lee and Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, who will share a selection of work followed by a short Q&A with the audience. Join us afterwards for a drinks reception and an opportunity to explore Of Walking on Fire.
The ticket price for this event is £5. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you, please get in touch with Ishy at Ishy@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.
Hanan is a Welsh-Iraqi writer, filmmaker, and artist. Her work spans multi-disciplines including poetry, essay and prose, theatre, film, and animation.
Her publications include her debut poetry collection My Body Can House Two Hearts that won Burning Eye Books’ 2019 pamphlet competition, Welsh Plural: Essays on the Future of Wales (Repeater Books), her children’s poetry anthology And I Hear Dragons (Firefly Press) and Chronic Women (Honno Press). Her winning monologue With Her Back Straight was performed at the Bush Theatre as part of the Hijabi Monologues. She is part of the writers room for Channel 4’s award-winning series We Are Lady Parts. Her work has been featured by Poetry Wales, Poetry Society, Hay Festival, ITV Wales, BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, Wales Millennium Centre, TATE Liverpool, Transpoesie, Cardiff University, National Trust, and the Barbican Centre. Her short film The Golden Apple - a Ffilm Cymru/ BBC Wales commission is available on iPlayer. In 2025 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Bangor University. She is currently under commission writing a full-length performance for Wales Millennium Centre. She was the 2023 Hay International Fellow and is the current National Poet of Wales until 2027.
Gayathiri is a Tamil writer based in London. They’re interested in how language shapes belonging and how we might use it to build freer futures.
Gayathiri is a recipient of the Poetry Archive Prize and the Disabled Poets Prize. Their play 'Period Parrrty' is a trans Tamil rom-com and opened at Soho Theatre (London) in 2025. Their debut novel-in-verse, 'Bad Queer', is out with Faber. Visit their website for more information.
Seo Hye Lee is a deaf South Korean artist based in the UK. Drawing from her lived experience of hearing loss and as a cochlear implant user, she works across drawing, moving image, and multi-sensory installation to explore the intricate terrains of sound and silence.
Across her practice, Seo Hye champions accessibility and collaboration, drawing inspiration from both collective and personal encounters with sound. Her research and projects have been supported by the Vital Capacities Residency and Arts Council England's DYCP programme.
Her recent moving image work Deafening Silence / Ohrenbetäubende Stille (2026), commissioned by IMAI as part of Circulating Copies, is a collaborative video work developed in exchange with d/Deaf communities in Germany and UK and presented through public screenings across the city of Düsseldorf.
Everyone is welcome at Autograph. Planning a visit? Have a look at our Visit Us page to find out more about getting to the gallery, accessibility and more.
Have any questions about your visit? Get in touch at info@autograph-abp.co.uk
Autograph welcomes people with all types of disabilities.
This event will be seated.
Our building and entrance is step free. A wheelchair accessible lift goes to all floors.
This event will take place in Gallery 1, on the ground floor.
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There will be light refreshments available at this event.
Autograph's events are popular and often sell out. We recommend booking a ticket in advance. If you need to cancel your ticket for any reason, you can receive a refund up to 24 hours before the start of the event. You do not need to bring your paper ticket to the event.
The ticket price for this event is £5. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. If this ticket price is unaffordable for you please get in touch with Ishy at Ishy@autograph-abp.co.uk about free ticketing options.
Please note that photography will take place at this event. Images from this event may be used by Autograph and external press for marketing and promotional use, including: printed and online publicity, social media, press releases, or other use. If you do not wish to be photographed, please let a member of staff know on the day.
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Banner image: Nhu Xuan Hua, Singer “How much love can be repeated?”, Honey baby, 2020. Courtesy of the artist and Anne-Laure Buffard, France. Copyright © Nhu Xuan Hua.
Performers: 1) Courtesy Hanan Issa.
Visit and Access: Photograph by Kate Elliott.
Inspired by: Inspired by: Nhu Xuan Hua, The one who couldn't talk [detail], 2021. © the artist.
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Autograph is a space to see things differently. Since 1988, we have championed photography that explores issues of race, identity, representation, human rights and social justice, sharing how photographs reflect lived experiences and shape our understanding of ourselves and others.
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