Momtaza Mehri and AWATE on compassion and compassionate society

Once again the Southbank Centre hosted a number of events for the week, culminating in the multi-artform event Notes on Compassion: Words, Music and Us in our Queen Elizabeth Hall on 25 June, 2023. With compassion being the theme of 2023’s Refugee Week, this event brought together a number of artists, poets and musicians to share their responses to and on the theme of compassion.

As a look ahead to this showcase we caught up with two of the artists appearing, AWATE and Momtaza Mehri, to ask them about compassion, about what it means to them, and to get their thoughts on what it takes to be compassionate in our current society.

If you joined us for Refugee Week in 2022 then you should be familiar with the rapper, writer, producer and performer, AWATE. That’s because he curated About Us!, a fantastic showcase of international artists which took over our Purcell Room. Eritrean, Saudi born, Camden raised artist AWATE’s creative endeavours focus on stories at the intersection of race, class and surrealism – with a dose of humour.

Momtaza Mehri may also be familiar to you having previously been commissioned by us to write a poem in response to Lee Bul’s 2018 Hayward Gallery exhibition. Mehri is a poet and independent researcher whose work spans criticism, translation, anti-disciplinary research practices, education and radio. She is a former Young People’s Poet Laureate for London and Frontier-Antioch Fellow, and as well as appearing at Notes on Compassion returned to the Southbank Centre again in July 2023 to appear at Out-Spoken.

When you hear the word compassion, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Momtaza Mehri: Compassion is shared vulnerability. It’s being generous with yourself and others, and extending a hand without expecting reward, or demanding gratitude. Compassion isn’t pity or paternalism, it’s an openness to being changed by other people.

AWATE: Waking up as a child, going to the living room and seeing a new person in our home. Evidently this ‘stranger’ was a refugee, like us, who had just arrived, and would then become a member of our family for months, until they were able to get on their feet. This is what it’s all about. I’m also reminded of the Eritrean and wider community who welcomed my mother and I when we first came to the UK.

What’s the greatest act of compassion that you have experienced?

Momtaza Mehri: There are so many daily, ordinary examples of compassion. But, I’m always struck by my father’s commitment to the old friends and acquaintances of his late father, as well as their children. His dedication to his father’s memory has meant he has stood by and supported so many people, even those he barely knows. 

AWATE: I’m not trying to be funny here, but a few years ago I bumped into an old classmate I hadn’t seen in more than a decade, on the platform of an Underground station. After a few minutes of very awkward small talk, as the train arrived, this absolute hero said, ‘Ah, you know what? I’m on the wrong platform’, and just walked away! 

It was ingenious, and empathetic, as that conversation, if we both got on the train. would have been terrible. They took it upon themselves to remove that possibility from the equation, saving us both from the pain of pitiful small-talk, and a recounting of the moments we shared together at school – mostly traumatic.

That showed me the power of awareness to both step in and help when someone needs it, but also, to know when people can, or need to, be left to their own devices. It’s not a lesson in apathy, rather a specific type of compassion that people need their own space and time sometimes.

‘A compassionate society is one that doesn’t punish its most vulnerable for what it has imposed on them.’

Momtaza Mehri

The description for Notes on Compassion on our website includes the line ‘do we live in times where acting with compassion may feel like a radical act?’; a question it feels remiss to sidestep. So, do you think this is where we are?

Momtaza Mehri: Compassion requires a certain slowness. A deeply considered way of living. We’re living in times of heightened reactivity, knee-jerk outrage, and constant overstimulation. It’s difficult to disengage and practice the slowness and consideration that compassion demands, particularly the kind of compassion that allows us to relate and work together across differences.

AWATE: In this individualistic, capitalist society, yes of course it’s radical to act with compassion. But that doesn’t mean radical acts are rare, or few and far between. Often, when thinking and acting collectively, it leads to more of the same, and it becomes a state of mind and way of life.

Do you think we can get back to a more compassionate place as a society?

Momtaza Mehri: We can. I don’t think we can be led there by anyone. We all need a clearer idea of our responsibilities and obligations, to be directed by compassion and critical awareness. For some of us, this begins with cultivating self-compassion.

AWATE: I do believe we can. When so many people are struggling to house, clothe and feed themselves, it’s difficult, as entire segments of society are in a fight, flight or freeze mentality. It will take more radical acts of empathy and kindness along with assertiveness against those with wealth and power.

‘In this individualistic, capitalist society, of course it’s radical to act with compassion. But that doesn’t mean radical acts are rare, or few and far between.’

AWATE

What does a truly compassionate society look like?

Momtaza Mehri: A compassionate society is one that doesn’t punish its most vulnerable for what it has imposed on them. It doesn’t blame those it has already burdened. It’s a society where collectivity is lived and celebrated, not reduced to slogans or empty election promises. 

AWATE: An understanding of people’s experiences, mind state, challenges, culture, health and wonder.

Refugee Week events at the Southbank Centre are produced in partnership with Counterpoint Arts. The leading national organisation in the field of arts, migration and cultural change Counterpoints Arts is a Southbank Centre Associate Artist.