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“He marvelled at the dreams, and how clear they were. He marvelled at the people who had risen, as if from a millennial sleep, from the ocean bed that had been their home. And he was filled with wonder at the great and enduring beauty of the new civilisation they had built for themselves in their invisible spaces. They had built it as their sanctuary. it was the fruit of what they had learned during those long years of suffering and oblivion at the bottom of the ocean.”(Okri,1995)

Reading list:
  1. Malatsie, K. &  Xie, L. (2025) Matter Mattering Matters. Bern: Kunsthalle Bern; Milan: Mousse Publishing.  
  2. Luther by Kendrick Lamar (ft.SZA). Directed by Karena Evans.
  3. Random Acts of Flyness (2018) [TV Series]. HBO.
  4. The Residence (2025) [TV Series]. Shondaland.
  5. Coleman, P. & Waite, A.E. (1909) Rider-Waite Tarot deck [Tarot Deck]. William Rider & Son.
  6. Duckworth, K.L. (2016) Untitled Unmastered [CD]. USA: Aftermath/Interscope (Top Dawg Entertainment).
  7. 2025 NFL Superbowl Halftime Show by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth. Directed by Shelley Rodgers [Caesars Superdome, 9 February].
  8. Duckworth, K.L. (2024) Untitled [online] Instagram. Available at:<https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_y8-rrS5La/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link>
  9. Baeza, P., Lindroth von Bahr, N., Roels, M.J., De Swaef, E. (2022) [Film] The House. USA: Netflix.
  10. Hartman, S. 2008. “Venus In Two Acts”. Small Axe: A Caribbean Journal Of Criticism 12 (2): 11. doi:10.1215/-12-2-1.
  11. La Noire (1966). Senegal: Filmi Domirev, Les Actualités Françaises.
  12. Kaufman, C. (2020) [Film] I'm Thinking of Ending Things. USA: Netflix.
  13. Kaufman, C. (2008) [Film] Synecdoche, New York. USA: Sony Pictures Classics.
  14. Okri, B. [1995](2014) Astonishing the Gods. London: Head of Zeus.
  15. Ishiguro, K. [2000](2005) When We Were Orphans. London: Faber and Faber.
  16. Ishiguro, K. (2005) Never Let Me Go. London: Faber and Faber.

I’m really drawn to dreamscapes. I often re-read my favorite ones, using them as a kind of meditation to help me think more deeply about the worlds and environments I'm creating. One book that's had a big impact on my approach to phenomenological place-making is Ben Okri's Astonishing the Gods. I've found that his writing helps me think about how people experience and interact with their surroundings in a way that's really useful for my work. As a result it has become a key reference point for me - a book that I return to regularly to help me build more immersive and engaging worlds.

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