My heart will always be in Brixton: Olive Morris

Olive Morris was an inspirational Black community leader and activist.

Born in St Catherine, Jamaica in 1952, at the age of 9 she moved to London, U.K. to join her parents who had previously migrated there as part of the Windrush generation.

Before her premature death in 1979 at the age of 27, she had made a remarkable contribution to fighting against racism, injustice and inequality.

She was a passionate advocate on issues such as housing, women’s rights and the fight against racial discrimination through activism & protest. 

Olive Morris was a member of the British Black Panthers Youth Collective, this was at a time when there was little legislation against racial discrimination in the U.K. She was also co-founder of the Brixton Black Women’s Group and Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD).

The organisation ran a number of campaigns such as fighting for women rights and taking a stand against inequality in education and police brutality.

In 1977, Olive made a visit to China as part of a student delegation put together by the Society for Anglo Chinese Understanding.  She wrote a report on what she had learnt and the experience shaped her views on global solutions to social injustice.

Whilst studying and campaigning Olive would use a typewriter similar to the one in this photograph of the artwork by Linett Kamala entitled ‘The Seven Characteristics of Olive Morris’. 

Even from a young age, Olive Morris was fearless in challenging injustice wherever she encountered it.  

In 1969 at the age of 17 Olive got caught up in the incident involving Nigerian diplomat Clement Gomwalk who had been accused by the police of stealing his own car. 

There are different accounts as to what happened - Olive is said to have intervened, was handcuffed, fought back and then charged with assault by the police.  Following her release from Brixton police station she was taken to King’s College Hospital where photographs were taken of her badly bruised face.

The incident marked Olive’s introduction to activism and she continued to fight against police brutality.

From September to December 2019, once a week, Linett based herself in the foyer of Lambeth Town Hall, across the road from Black Cultural Archives, to explore this question.  There she engaged in dialogue with people who visited this civic space. 

Some conversations were planned, others occurred by chance.  Many of the encounters sparked inspiration for the work Linett created during the residency, in the form of live art, talking events and workshops. 

Amongst the layers of sign writing, graffiti and other mark-marking in Brixton’s streetscape, many local people wish for Olive Morris’s name to more prominent. 

At the start of the residency in September 2019, a Lambeth Council staff member proclaimed in her conversation with Linett “Let her (Olive) be visible!” 

The sentiment was later captured by Linett in this painting through her expressive signature ‘freestyle calligraffiti’, bringing a sense of urgency to words ‘Olive Morris’, compelling the viewer to know her name through repetition and expressive script

On a trip to America in the summer of 2019, Linett met, for the first time, her long lost Aunt Rose Morris (no relation to Olive Morris, but a nice co-incidence and Linett’s birth surname).

In the midst of this highly emotional visit, Linett experienced delight when she found a cousin, who, like her, had a kitchen scroll full of wisdom, humour and advice – an artefact often found in Jamaican homes.

Through her Aunt Rose, Linett discovered a huge extended family in the USA, Canada and Jamaica.  Linett provided the missing U.K. link when she connected with over 200 members of her family for a reunion in Jamaica, in March 2020.

In this painting ‘Recipe for a Happy Mind’ Linett has created her own kitchen scroll on an enlarged scale – capturing the ingredients she has found essential to keeping herself in good spirits.

The painting forms the basis of the creative Olive Morris workshops that Linett runs, where she encourages participants to express their emotions through their art