If you’re looking to delve into the world of a young woman of colour living in London, then the online magazine gal-dem is your portal. The talented team of 50-odd journalists and photographers led by editor-in-chief Liv Little has been championing the work of young women with vigour and solidarity since 2015.
And it’s something that’s needed. A 2014 survey found that only 5 per cent of the creative media industry in the UK were black, Asian and minority ethnic even though they are 14 per cent of the total population.
Not content with the internet, Gal-dem is launching their first ever print magazine today.
gal-dem arts and culture editor Varaidzo explains in a video why they felt it necessary to set up their own site: ‘For people like us to have an opinion and it not be “a thing”. There are so many things we can talk about and it’s nice to have a platform where we can do that and it’s not the token “women of colour opinion.”‘
And not content with the internet, gal-dem is launching their first ever print magazine today.
Music editor Antonia Odunlami told us her section is going to be pretty good. There’s a feature on women in broadcasting with DJ Jamz Supernova and Julie Adenuga as well as an interview with the UK artist Fran Lobo. ‘Her sound is alternative slash pop slash I don’t want to box her in!’
She also singles out the Grace Barber-Plentie piece ‘on how music videos in the 90s and noughties shaped her self-image because she grew up in quite a white area’ and a feature by Zahra Dalilah on the ‘vulnerable yet vicious’ South London rapper Ms Banks.
So who’s the person Antonia would most like to see with a copy of gal-dem in their hands? ‘I’d love to see some younger girls reading it – some school kids. I know when I was at school, if there was something like this that was available, I’d have done anything to get my hands on it.’
We can’t wait to get our hands on it too.