I can't begin to tell you what a joy it was to catch up with this brilliant, beautiful human at the weekend. @novareidofficial is a positive force of nature. She's an incredible and compassionate anti-racist educator, activist, author, TED speaker, singer, dancer, joy-bringer, wall-breaker, healer and friend. I'm immensely grateful to her not just for her friendship over these last few years, but for all I've learned and continue to learn from her too. If you'd like to join me in leaning into the work to become a better ally - to be actively anti-racist and learn how to unpack and examine your own stuff - I can't recommend Nova's book "The Good Ally" enough (and if you prefer audiobooks, you can hear Nova herself narrate it for you). She also has a brilliant podcast ("Conversations with Nova Reid"), an online Anti-Racism Course (accessible from her website) and a must-watch TED Talk too. I don't doubt for a second that the mental toolkit I've developed and strengthened through this work - learning to better recognise, sit with and process shame; to build upon my ability to gently self-interrogate; to prioritise self-care while processing; to find pro-active ways to break out of negative spirals (and more) - has been instrumental not only to becoming a better ally / friend / human, but to my ability to process some fairly huge personal losses over the last few years too. It isn't comfortable work, but it is transformative - and vital on all levels. . . . These portraits were taken shortly after an excellent talk at @jupiterartland entitled "BLM, Healing & Allyship: Where are we at?", chaired by @gemagain and featuring Nova alongside @naomishimada and Mukami McCrum MBE. Huge thanks to all of the speakers for the time, headspace and energy they gave to it. A big shout-out to the lovely team at @lighthousebks who were running the beautifully curated book stall there too! Delighted to have been introduced to the radical bookshop of dreams. Go check them out too eh? ❤ . . . . #NovaReid #JupiterArtland #brilliantwomen #changemakers #womensupportingwomen #womenwhophotograph #womeninphotography #PortraitPhotography #GlasgowPhotographer #GlasgowCreatives