Before I am Rendered Invisible: Resistance from the Margins

by Ros Martin

In this inspirational volume of spoken word, social commentary, play, essay and memoir, Ros Martin peels apart the onion layers of our deeply fragmented society. By presenting the author’s personal journey, the book throws a harrowing spotlight on issues behind racial inequality. It achieves what so many other titles neglect or fail to do: rendering visible the lives of the otherwise unnoticed or stereotyped black woman, man and lowly other.

Pushing out from the margins, the author writes with a passion to engage readers in issues that continue to impact those in ethnically diverse communities and other marginalised backgrounds. Every passage rings with the call for social justice and equal empowerment, whilst celebrating lives of struggle in creativity, resistance and survival.

412 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 18, 2022

Reviews

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I am Rendered Invisible is a beautiful accumulation of play, poetry, biography, memoir and more by Ros Martin, a Bristol based artist. It delves deep into history: as far back as the slavery of black people, and all the way up to the more recent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. It shines a light on systemic racism and the unspoken tragedies of many individuals.
Ros Martin has created an inspiring book that flows as a story, despite being formed from short vignettes and snippets mixed with whole retellings of people’s lives, allowing for her overarching messages to build smoothly throughout the book. She seamlessly portrays a wide range of emotions varying from hope and hatred to isolation and naivety. Furthermore, there is a certain beauty apparent in the discussion of ideas as massive as racism and slavery paired with small ideas like the pure joy of a child on a snow day.
Before I Am Rendered Invisible is a uniquely accumulated anthology that deserves to be read by everyone