Performing Blackness and its ethics in the United Kingdom’s Live Art context

This article examines the ethical dimensions of performing Blackness within the UK’s Live Art context. Drawing on autoethnographic reflection and historical analysis, it addresses the urgent ethical implications of presenting Black artists to predominantly White audiences, particularly in light of funding challenges and the potential for tokenism. The central argument is that the performance of Blackness often exposes a tension between visibility and vulnerability, where audiences consume the labour and pain of Black artists in a way that risks exploitation. By analysing my own performance at the SPILL Festival and situating it within the historical lineage of Black performance as activism – from the African Grove Theatre to contemporary Black British theatre – this article argues for a critical ethics of Black performance. Ultimately, this article aims to contribute to a discourse that moves beyond mere representation towards advocating for care, reciprocity and structural accountability within the arts, asserting that without fundamental institutional change, inclusion risks becoming tokenistic.