Gabriel Ladbury Dos Santos’ cultural highlights

Gabriel Ladbury Dos Santos is a 19-year-old writer of English and Brazilian heritage who has grown up between London and Somerset. Through music, poetry and film, he is drawn to stories of identity, family and belonging.

Documentary film: Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story (2025) directed by Yemi Bamiro

I had the privilege of attending the premiere of Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story at the BFI London Film Festival last year. Kwame Brathwaite, together with his brother Elombe Brath, co-founded the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS) in 1956, a collective that merged culture, art, music, and political consciousness. In 1962, from that foundation, they launched Grandassa Models – a group of women who embodied a radical departure from prevailing beauty norms – all of whom Kwame photographed. Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story shows how identity can be reshaped by challenging Eurocentric beauty standards with something simple but powerful: natural hair, unfiltered faces, and showing shameless pride in Black identity despite what small-minded people may think or do. What also stands out from the documentary is the level of trust and access Braithwaite had. His work was so effective because people believed in him – not just as an artist, but as a person – which allowed him to produce iconic images of Black icons we all know and love, such as Bob Marley. His work wasn’t just about how people looked, but more importantly, how they felt. He gave people space to see themselves differently, and to take pride in that without needing to explain it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29702584/

Poem: ‘Where I’m From’ by Griot Gabriel

‘Where I’m From’ is one of my favourite poems by the urban poet Griot Gabriel. It builds identity through repetition, turning place into something you carry with you. It’s rooted in Manchester, where Gabriel is from, but it reaches further than that: speaking to anyone shaped by their environment before they’ve had the chance to define themselves. What makes it hit is how specific it is. Lines such as ‘I’m from a palace where poor boys worship rich men’ and ‘I’m from a place where everyone is a walking contradiction’ show the complexity of the city and the people within it. There’s a tension between who you are and who you’re expected to become, and the poem stays in that space.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv_TYFFGNSc&t

Musician: Loyle Carner

Loyle Carner is a musician whom I have admired for many years. He makes music that feels more like a reflection than a performance. It never sounds like he’s trying to prove anything. It’s quieter than that. More like listening to someone think out loud. Being mixed race, I’ve always related to how he speaks about identity without trying to resolve it. It just exists. He’s also open about ADHD, family, and not having everything figured out, which makes his music feel real. One song I often return to is ‘Sun Of Jean’. I have ADHD myself, and the song reminds me of my relationship with my mum. The first time she heard it, she cried. Growing up, I was always throwing myself into things, full of energy and ideas, and I think the song captures the mixture of worry, pride, and love that comes with that. Another song I come back to is ‘HGU’. It explores Carner’s relationship with his father and his decision to forgive him. Although my own relationship with my dad is very different, I still connect with the honesty of it. What I admire is that he doesn’t simplify those feelings, he allows them to be complicated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dugqylGhjrk

Documentary Film: Apocalypse in the Tropics (2024) directed by Petra Costa

There can be something unsettling about watching a documentary that makes you realise how much you didn’t know, especially when it’s about your own country. Apocalypse in the Tropics explores how power, religion, and misinformation shaped Brazil under Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, particularly during COVID-19. What stayed with me most was how religious beliefs were exploited to reinforce political authority, turning complex issues into something absolute and causing devastating impacts to communities and Brazilian lives. Being half Brazilian, but growing up in the UK, the documentary felt both distant and personal, as I feel the events are widely unspoken about, and watching this documentary gave me a much deeper understanding. Apocalypse in the Tropics is an eye-opening documentary that I strongly urge anyone interested in politics, history, or Brazil to watch.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30012657/?ref_=mv_close

Musician: Mulaa Joans

Some people don’t hesitate – they just move. Mulaa Joans is one of those people. I’ve known her for many years, since we were much younger, and she’s always been certain in a way most people aren’t. Moving to London at 17 to pursue music takes real confidence, and even more to stay there. What stands out isn’t just the talent, it’s the consistency. She backed herself early, and she hasn’t really stopped since. Her music sits somewhere between pop and soul, but what I like most is the honesty in it. Songs like ‘18 Again’, ‘real thing’ and ‘Birthday Makeup’ are vulnerable without feeling self-pitying. ‘18 Again’, in particular, captures the strange contradiction of growing up: wanting independence while still needing the people who raised you. There is a confidence to her music, but also a sadness underneath it that makes it feel real. I’ve watched her back herself for years and she hasn’t really stopped since. I am backing her too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEoVH8ufN7k

Favourite WritersMosaic writer: Selina Nwulu

I like how Selina Nwulu reflects on lineage and belonging in a way that feels natural.

Her words resonate long after you’ve read them. In ‘Half Written Love Letter’, she uses vivid images of places, accents, and everyday experiences to explore what it means to belong to a country that does not always claim you back. The poem’s final image, ‘I am a half-written love letter / it does not know where to send’, has stayed with me ever since I first read it.

https://writersmosaic.org.uk/insight/half-written-love-letter/

Gabriel Ladbury Dos Santos

Gabriel Ladbury Dos Santos is a writer of English and Brazilian heritage.