Biography
Zita is an award winning, trade union, community & human rights campaigner and activist, sell-out author, visual artist, curator, poet, writer and vocalist. She studied art & graphic design at the London College of Printing and Watford School of Art. Zita has over 30 years of experience working in the arts including as a graphic designer, illustrator & make-up artist and exhibits at a range of cultural, community & political events. Outsideof her creative pursuits Zita has worked in employment law and rights, industrial relations and has been a senior trade activist for 25 years and counting. Zita has curated political and cultural art exhibitions to challenge racism, wider discrimination, injustice and to promote equality, justice, rights and freedom.
Zita was invited in 2018 by UNESCO to be part of the UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa in recognition of her work in arts and culture over many years and her work as a campaigner for race equality. She is the founder of the Roots, Culture and Identity arts collective and touring exhibitions, showcasing the art of predominantly young black, Asian and migrant artists. Zita was commissioned by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to design a poster for the TUC Stephen Lawrence Trust Fundraising Appeal; her art has been used for numerous campaign leaflets, flyers, posters and adverts and for illustrations.
Zita is a proud and committed trade union activist and is the Public and Commercial Services Union National Vice President, the joint National Chair of the Artists' Union England and she is elected to the TUC Race Relations Committee, the TUC Women's Committee and the General Federation of Trade Unions National Executive. Her political views and opinions are regularly featured in print and broadcast media and she is a regular writer for news sources including The Voice, The Morning Star and the The Guardian
She is the Co-Founder and National Chair of Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC) UK, a founding member of Movement Against Xenophobia, BME Lawyers for Grenfell and BAME Lawyers for Justice and has played a leading role in campaigning against the Windrush scandal.
Zita won the positive role model for race award at the National Diversity Awards in 2012, was listed as one of the top 10 African & Caribbean Women of the Year in 2013 and was a finalist and one of 5 people's choice poets in the Manorlogz Xtreme Spoken Word Contest in 2013. In 2019 she received a lifetime achievement award for equality champion from the Legacy Awards. In 2020 she was nominated by the BLAC Awards for a special recognition award for her work in community campaigning. She is one of 17 British women campaigners featured in the new book Here We Stand; Women Changing the World, which won the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing in 2015.
She is the author of the sell out book Striving for Equality, Freedom and Justice, published by Hansib Publications. A book fusing the poetical with the political and charting black history from the Haitian Revolution to the Black Lives Matter Movement, some of the poems in the book have won awards and some have been performed at awards ceremonies and all illustrations in the book and on the front cover are Zita's work.
Her art has also been featured in exhibitions internationally and she has been featured in the UK in exhibitions at Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum amongst other venues. She performs poetry at a wide range of events, from Glastonbury festival to the Houses of Parliament, awards ceremonies to community events and trade union conferences. Zita is also part of the singing group Nawi Collective.
In 2020 Zita gave the International Slavery Museum, Dorothy Kuya Memorial Lecture for UNESCO Slavery Remembrance Day. Zita campaigns for Equality, Freedom, Justice & Human Rights through arts and activism.
Contact Zita as follows:
Email: zitabaracuk@gmail.com
Email: info@zitaholbourne.com
BARAC UK by Web: www.blackactivistsrisingagainstcuts.blogspot.com
Instagram: @zitabaracuk
Facebook page: Zita Holbourne, Poet Artist
Facebook group: Black Activists Rising Against Cuts
YouTube Channel: Zita Holbourne Poet Activist
SoundCloud: Zita Holbourne
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