JULIA-BETH HARRIS
A fearless poet and performer mobilizing communities through resistance, liberation, and the power of words.
Meet Julia-Beth Harris, a South African-born poet, performer, and creative force based in Amsterdam.
Her work is a bold fusion of the poetic and the political, bridging ancestral knowledge, diasporic identity, and urban tension to create art that heals, reckons, and reimagines. Julia-Beth’s performances are more than art, they are ceremonies, each poem a compass toward collective liberation and alternative futures.
Julia-Beth's voice is both archival and visionary. From poetic sermons bidding farewell to capitalism to odes honoring creatives of color and abolitionist histories, she refuses to separate art from activism, using her words to ignite movements and inspire transformation.
Her work has animated protest films like A Play for Public, which interrogates the erasure of communal spaces in hyper-commercialized cities, and commemorative pieces such as her abolition poem, a celebration of the radical gifts brought by the enslaved across the Atlantic. Julia-Beth’s storytelling doesn’t just speak, it resonates. To experience her poetic activism firsthand, watch Tina to Tama, a short video that embodies her vision of resistance and reimagination.
Taking her words beyond the stage, Julia-Beth’s projects unexpectedly disrupt the status quo. Colour Craft Collective celebrates creatives of color in the Dutch cultural scene through poetic tributes, while All Things Envisioned, inspired by the book Rest is Resistance, reclaims rest and dreams as revolutionary acts. The latter was even recorded and shared via a QR code on Amsterdam’s ferry between Central Station and Amsterdam Noord, bringing poetry into the everyday lives of commuters.
Recognized for her fearless approach to storytelling, Julia-Beth’s work centers on themes of intersectional solidarity, collective liberation, and dreaming beyond oppressive systems. Her performances are not just events but calls to action, inviting audiences to imagine and build new worlds.
Watch a snippet of her performance ‘a ceremonial farewell to Capitalism’ at Amsterdam’s epic cultural take-over The Spirit of Amsterdam.
Topics she likes talking or writing about
How poetry can be a vehicle for resistance and world-building.
The intersections between performance and protest.
Reimagining communities through artistic practices.
Creative disruption of systems that corrupt humanity and humility.
The power of poetic storytelling to mobilize the community.
Upcoming Projects
Don’t miss her solo poetry show, Where the Clouds Gather, coming this August, September, and November. It is a powerful exploration of identity, liberation, and the collective imagination.
