Black Art and the Burden of Representation

Categorised: Seminars

We are pleased to announce that the postponed seminar ‘Black Art & the Burden of Representation’ has been rescheduled for Thursday 20 October, 10.30am-4.45pm. The event will include tours of the Hackney Windrush sculptures and the new Fourth Plinth commission by Samson Kambalu. If you are able to attend the new date, please register here.

The recent commissions of Black artists to create public artworks which celebrate and highlight the Windrush Generation and wider aspect of British/Caribbean history signal a key moment for representation in the public realm. At a time when existing monuments have come under scrutiny, new ones are being erected to reset civic acknowledgement of past political failures. Taking a cue from Kobena Mercer’s 1990 essay Black art and the Burden of representation, this seminar will serve as a starting point for unpacking questions and ideas surrounding the representation of the Black community in public sculptures. By facilitating conversation with commissioners, curators, art historians and artists, the seminar acts as the first step to interrogating recent large-scale investments in public artwork, ensuring that actions taken by local and central governments and institutions alike are considered rather than reactive.

This event is one in a series of 15 BAN supported seminars for 2022.

Organised by Marie Bak Mortensen & Leanne Petersen, Create London.

Image: Custard Apple (Annonaceae), Breadfruit (Moraceae) and Soursop (Annonaceae), 2021 by Veronica Ryan