To coincide with her exhibition Sacred Groves, Ranti Bam has shared a selection of books from the South London Gallery Bookshop that touch on themes relating to the exhibition and her wider practice.
This curated list of books explore different ways of thinking about land, gender, time, voice, and inherited knowledge.
Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run with the Wolves
Women Who Run with the Wolves is now a cult feminist classic, having spent over 145 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Within every woman, there lies a powerful force of energy, creativity and self-knowing: their wild woman. For centuries, she has been repressed by a male-orientated value system that trivialises her emotions. Until now.
With a combination of time-honoured stories, myths, fairy tales and casework, this will set you on a beautiful path to unleashing your inner wild.
Silvia Federici’s Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons
Silvia Federici is one of the most important contemporary theorists of capitalism and feminist movements. In this collection of her work spanning over twenty years, she provides a detailed history and critique of the politics of the commons from a feminist perspective. In her clear and combative voice, Federici provides readers with an analysis of some of the key issues and debates in contemporary thinking on this subject.
Anne Carson’s The Gender of Sound
The Gender of Sound looks at how women’s voices have historically been treated as unruly or dangerous, something to be contained or silenced.
From the myths of antiquity to Margaret Thatcher via Sigmund Freud and Gertrude Stein, this essay charts the gendering of sound. Carson invites us to listen again, and in doing so to reimagine our conceptions of human order, virtue and selfhood.
Oyeronke Oyewumi’s The Invention of Women
Oyeronke Oyewumi examines the Western idea that biology provides the rationale for organising the social world. And yet, she writes, the concept of “woman,” central to this ideology and to Western gender discourses, simply did not exist in Yorubaland, where the body was not the basis of social roles.
The book lays bare the hidden assumptions in the ways these different cultures think. A truly comparative sociology of an African culture and the Western tradition.
Carlo Rovelli’s The Order of Time
Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it.
With his extraordinary charm and sense of wonder, bringing together science, philosophy and art, Carlo Rovelli unravels this mystery. Enlightening and consoling, The Order of Time shows that to understand ourselves we need to reflect on time – and to understand time we need to reflect on ourselves.
Binyavanga Wainaina’s How to Write About Africa
Binyavanga Wainaina was a seminal author and creative force, remembered as one of the greatest chroniclers of contemporary African life.
This collection brings together, for the first time, Binyavanga’s pioneering writing on the African continent including many of his most critically acclaimed pieces. Writing fearlessly across a range of topics – from politics to international aid, cultural heritage and redefining sexuality
Jennifer Lucy Allen’s Clay: A Human History
Clay is baked into our culture: we have been taking handfuls of earth and forming them into their own image since our history began. In Clay: A Human History, Jennifer Lucy Allan navigates the story of humankind and our relationship to making and creativity through our relationship with this enigmatic, ancient material. This is a hybrid of archaeology, history and lived experience as an amateur potter.
Visit the South London Gallery Bookshop Tues-Sun to browse our book and merchandise range inspired by the exhibition. Buy or order all titles through the SLG Bookshop, email us at shop@southlondongallery.org
Our store is committed to highlighting underrepresented authors, independent publishers and championing reading across all ages.
Want to know what other artists are reading? Take a look at what artist Rene Matić recommended.
Ranti Bam: Sacred Groves is at the South London Gallery from 1 May – 23 August 2026.