kbarokka [at] gmail [dot] com
'Expect to laugh, to think, to greatly admire this artist.' - ABC
Okka is represented by Abi Fellows at TGLA. abi [dot] thegoodliteraryagency [dot] org
SHORTER:
Khairani Barokka (b. Jakarta, 1985) is a writer, poet and artist in London. She’s a practice-based researcher, whose work centres disability justice as anti-colonial praxis. Among her honours, she was Modern Poetry in Translation’s Inaugural Poet-in-Residence, the first non-British Associate Artist at the UK’s National Centre for Writing, and an NYU Tisch Departmental Fellow, and is currently UK Associate Artist at Delfina Foundation and Research Fellow at University of the Arts London.
Okka is the writer/performer/producer of, among others, a deaf-accessible, solo poetry/art show, Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee. It premiered at Edinburgh Fringe 2014 as Indonesia’s only representative, with a grant from HIVOS. She was recognized in 2014 by UNFPA as one of Indonesia’s “Inspirational Young Leaders Driving Social Change", for highly prolific, pioneering international work in justice-oriented arts.
Published internationally in anthologies and journals, Okka has presented work extensively, in fifteen countries, is a frequent public speaker, and has been awarded various residencies, grants and award nominations, including a Pushcart Prize nomination. She is author and illustrator of poetry-art book Indigenous Species, nominated for a Goldsmiths Public Engagement Award (Tilted Axis Press, 2016; Vietnamese translation out in 2018 with AJAR Press), author of poetry collection Rope (Nine Arches Press, 2017), co-editor with Ng Yi-Sheng of HEAT: A Southeast Asian Urban Anthology (Fixi, 2016), and co-editor, with Sandra Alland and Daniel Sluman, of Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Arches Press, 2017), shortlisted for a Saboteur Award for Best Anthology and a Poetry School Book of the Year. Work is published in Poetry Review, The Rialto, Ambit, Magma, Wasafiri, Stand, The New Inquiry, Asymptote, and other journals, anthologies and art books. She is a member of the collective Malika's Poetry Kitchen and received a PhD by Practice in Goldsmiths’ Visual Cultures Department, as an LPDP Scholar. Okka is currently working on a book and visual works. Her most recent commission is a large-scale digital collage and poetry series for Wellcome Collection. Her latest book, poetry collection Ultimatum Orangutan (Nine Arches Press) was published in March 2021, and was shortlisted for the Barbellion Prize.
LONGER:
Khairani Barokka (b. 1985) is a writer, poet and interdisciplinary artist. She has been a highly prolific practitioner of think/do advocacy in the arts, particularly on the ways in which innovation in storytelling can increase justice for and by disability cultures and feminisms (both of which she is happy to be a part of). Born in Jakarta, Okka works, teaches, and is published internationally, in print and online (see WRITING for recently published and forthcoming work). Her lectures, performances, workshops, and/or projects have been presented extensively, in India, Italy, Ireland, the US, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, the UK, the Czech Republic, Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, Vietnam, the Netherlands, and her native Indonesia. She has a masters from ITP at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, as a Tisch Departmental Fellow, working on participatory, interactive art, literature, and social issues storytelling. Her BA (High Honors, College Scholar) was from Middlebury College in Sociology/Anthropology. Okka received a PhD by practice in Goldsmiths' Visual Cultures Department, on an LPDP Doctoral Scholarship, was Modern Poetry in Translation’s Inaugural Poet-in-Residence, the first non-British Associate Artist at the UK’s National Centre for Writing, and an NYU Tisch Departmental Fellow, and is currently UK Associate Artist at Delfina Foundation and Research Fellow at University of the Arts London.
Okka is the writer, performer, and producer of a hearing-impaired accessible solo show, Eve and Mary Are Having Coffee (with a grant from HIVOS as main sponsor), which premiered at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014 as Indonesia’s only representative. Previously, she pioneered the production of the first live-streamed spoken word shows in Indonesia, involving cross-national collaborations, with a focus on social justice/disability justice. As an independent scholar, she is a member of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), and has presented at international conferences, festivals, and as a two-time TEDx speaker (Jakarta and Youth@Chennai). Okka was profiled in UNFPA’s book “Investing in Young People in Indonesia: Inspirational Young Leaders Driving Social Change” (2014) for raising awareness of disability issues and perspectives through art and writing. She has also been featured widely in national and international media, among them BBC Radio 2's The Arts Show with Jonathan Ross, BBC Cultural Frontline, BBC Scotland, BBC News' live Q and A on Facebook in London, other UK media, multiple ABC Australia appearances (radio and television), RRR (Aus), The Hindu (India), The Times of India, and all major Indonesian newspapers and media including National Geographic, Esquire, and BBC Indonesia (see PRESS for complete list). Her creative pieces have been performed by herself and others (including, recently, actor Toby Jones).
Okka was Artist-In-Residence at Rimbun Dahan (Malaysia, 2014-15) for six months, where she worked on writing projects as well as on using text in mixed media works. She has also held residencies at Vermont Studio Center (US, 2011; with a grant for poetry, as first Indonesian writer-in-residence), Tutti Arts (AUS, 2013), the EQUILIBRIUM Project at Sandarbh (India, 2014), Jatiwangi Art Factory’s Village Video Festival (Indonesia, 2012) and was Emerging Writers Festival’s (AUS) Inaugural International Writer-In-Residence for 2013.
Her first book as sole author, a poetry-art production entitled Indigenous Species, was published in December 2016 by Tilted Axis Press (UK), with a Vietnamese translation out in 2018 with AJAR Press, and was nominated for a Goldsmiths Public Engagement Award. Her first full-length poetry collection, Rope, was published by Nine Arches Press (UK) in 2017. HEAT, an anthology of Southeast Asian urban writing co-edited with Ng Yi-Sheng for Buku Fixi Publishing (Malaysia), was launched in London in April 2016. She is co-editor, with Sandra Alland and Daniel Sluman, of Nine Arches Press' UK anthology of D/deaf and disabled poets, entitled Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back (Nine Arches Press, 2017), shortlisted for a Saboteur Award for Best Anthology and a Poetry School Book of the Year.
Picture in black and white of Okka writing in Indonesian on a paper floor with a pen. She’s wearing a patterned black and batik dress, with short hair and black and silver earrings. If you’re using this image, kindly credit photographer Derrick Kakembo.