mojatu .com
22 Arts & Culture
LUBAINA HIMID NOMINATED
FOR THE 2017 TURNER PRIZE
Over the past 30 years, Tanzanian born Lubaina
Himid MBE has been at the forefront of challenging
the institutional visibility of black culture and identity
through contemporary art. Focusing mainly on
cultural and individual histories, her work celebrates
black culture and creativity through paintings, print,
installations and drawings. Much of her work is
based around reclaiming the black identities that are
overlooked or overshadowed by historical events and
making unheard voices audible.
She is regarded by many as a pioneer
for the British Black Arts Movement.
Throughout the 80s Himid began
exhibiting the works of her peers
in an effort to promote art from
underrepresented groups on the
contemporary art scene.
Unwittingly, her exhibits brought
together and gave visibility to the artists
that would go on to form the Black British
Arts Movement—a politically motivated,
radical movement challenging racial
and gender representations. The
movement created a platform exposing
black art that was able to “...fill the gaps in
history...the experienced histories which
you have to interpret.”—a frequently
visited theme in Himid’s work; rather
than present “written histories or
taught histories”, Himid’s art challenges
institutional visibility by examining
individual pasts and experiences, as
opposed to rudimentary historical
documentations of black people. Her
2004 installation Naming the Money
addressed historical european art
that depicts white aristocratic families
alongside a single black servant. Himid
humanised the histories of black servants
and labourers historically covered up by
Europe’s moneyed classes; each of her 100
cardboard cut-outs are accompanied by
their story and their name. She described
this arrangement as a representation of a
gathering between the figures, sharing
conversations and stories that would have
been overlooked by the wealthy who
often disguised and glamourised slavery.
Himid continues to challenge
institutional invisibility through her art
work. She regularly explores ‘belonging’,
what it means to belong, and as a result,
how black people contribute to the
cultural landscape of Britain, historically
as well as currently. Himid is passionate
that people of the black diaspora feel
they belong wherever they are and that
their contribution to the history of a
place is acknowledged, creating “...room
for dialogue and progress”. One of her
recent exhibitions Invisible Strategies
shown at the Modern Oxford from the
21st of January to the 30th of April,
uses the same provocative themes to
demand thought and discussion from
its audience. The works exhibited range
from the 1980s to the present day,
including Revenge: A masque in five
tableaux series, a collection of paintings
which retell European artworks from
the perspective of two black women.
Five (1991) depicts two women in the
midst of intense dialogue, a space at
their table facing the audience which
Himid described as an invitation for the
audience to join the conversation.
Himid has received increasing positive
critical reception in past years for her work
and has recently been nominated to the
final four nominees shortlisted for the
2017 Turner Prize, the most prestigious
visual arts award in the world. Lubaina is
the oldest person to have been nominated
for the prize, since the award began to
accept artists over 50 earlier this year.
The Turner prize will be staged outside of
london at Hull’s Feren art gallery and will
run from the 26th September to the 7th
January 2018. Good luck Lubaina and
thank you for being a voice representing
race, gender and age.
You and your family