Best of diverse art on display at city art gallery
The diversity and creativity of black artists in a city has been put on display as part of a special exhibition.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery has been celebrating the works of different black artists from the 1980s to the present day with the Black Art Collection Highlights exhibition.
With a diverse collection in style and medium, many works in the exhibition share a common theme, depicting the social and political tensions that existed between black members of the public and government authority, such as in Tam Joseph’s Spirit of the Carnival.
Alongside this are works that explore black representation and identity, such as Keith Piper’s Body Type 1 and 2, and Chila Kumari Burman’s Auto-Portrait.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery senior curator Carol Thompson said the exhibition was an opportunity to show off some of the many great works from the strong collection the gallery had.
She said: "Wolverhampton was a pioneer for this type of art back in the day and, as a major gallery, was the first to give those young black artists a voice and be able to put on a fairly radical show with the First National Black Art Convention 40 years ago.
"We decided to do this exhibition as we only had a small window between the end of British Art Show 9 and the next show by the artist and director Steve McQueen in June and it was a great chance to use the gallery space, particularly with the Commonwealth Games coming to the region.
"With the cultural programme coming from the Games and the celebration of diversity and multi-cultural Britain, we felt this exhibition chimed in with the aims and themes and we are able to show a selection of the work on offer."
Ms Thompson said she hoped the exhibition could inspire people through the creative works on display and the social and political ideology around it and said it showcased the work the gallery was doing.
She said: "I think it shows how we respond to and relate to our audiences and present work which will provoke conversation and bring people together.
"The work we're showing is something that demands attention and we want to make sure that everyone can relate to the art and participate in conversations about it."
The exhibition is free to attend and takes place until Sunday, May 22 at Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Lichfield Street.
To find out more, go to wolverhamptonart.org.uk/whats-on/black-art-collection-highlights/
