UCL: Disrupting the Legacy

Disrupting the Legacy: Jazz, Identity, and the Myths of Eugenics is a film and artwork of 15 minutes 51 seconds, blending dialogue with improvised music of diasporic origin.

The film showing in the exhibition room: a musician on a screen, two armchairs on a patterned rug, plants and artwork by a tall window lettered with the word matter.

Two visitors in armchairs watch the film, one wearing a headset.

At the exhibition

In November 2025 the film was shown at UCL’s Words Matter exhibition, in a room set up like a living room: armchairs, a rug, plants and screens.

Three people stand by a screen showing the film, in front of a patterned wall.

On the walls

Words on the wall and floor of the room set the questions the film asks: who belongs, and on whose terms.

Words on the exhibition wall and floor: Diversity cannot exist in a place like this. Here, I, you, we are not welcome until they are not. The word Belonging repeats down the wall beside them.

Context

Disrupting the Legacy: Jazz, Identity, and the Myths of Eugenics was inspired by ongoing work with UCL and conversations that emerged while exploring the university’s historical involvement with eugenics. The project sits within the context of UCL Words Matter.

Challenge and opportunity

The project confronts that legacy directly, acknowledging its existence, examining its impact on society, and considering how its ideology still shapes systems that govern how we are seen and defined today.

Oracle’s role

The Oracle created the work, using conversation and diasporic improvised music to examine identity, inherited narratives and UCL’s historical relationship with eugenics.

Creative concept

What does identity mean in a world that continually tries to categorise us? How do we reclaim our stories, challenge inherited narratives, and define ourselves on our own terms?

Artists and collaborators

Featuring Julian Joseph, Hilary Juma, EERF EVIL and Nualoe.

Outcomes

A film and artwork of 15 minutes 51 seconds, shown at UCL’s Words Matter exhibition in November 2025.