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The place is here : the work of black artists in 1980s Britain / edited by Nick Aikens and Elizabeth Robles.

Contributor(s): Publication details: Berlin : Sternberg Press, 2019.Description: 415 pages, 11 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), facsimiles, portraits ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 9783956794667
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction / Nick Aikens, Elizabeth Robles -- We Will Be / Susan pui san lok -- A Complex Unity : Articulating the 1980s / Nick Aikens -- The Urgency of the Now / Deborah Cherry -- Encounters with Art History / Laura Castagnini, Alice Correia, Priyesh Mistry, Elizabeth Robles -- Van Abbemuseum Exhibition/Images -- Reframing Art History / Elizabeth Robles -- Blk Art Group Research Project -- All the Rage : For Oluwale and Destruction of the National Front / Sonia Boyce -- Vanley Burke Archive -- On Dreaming Rivers : The Possibilities of Becoming / Chandra Frank -- Gavin Jantjesʼs A South African Colouring Book / Amna Malik -- Nottingham Contemporary Exhibition/Images -- The Place Is Here, the Time Is Now : Lubaina Himidʼs Toussaint LʼOuverture / Dorothy Price -- The Archive / Nick Aikens, June Givanni, Sarnia Malik, Marlene Smith -- June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive -- Bearing Witness / Sunil Gupta, Gail Lewis, Michelle Williams Gamaker -- Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Exhibition/Images -- Mona Hatoumʼs Roadworks and Measures of Distance / Leon Wainwright -- Said Adrusʼs Zeitgeist, Chila Kumari Burmanʼs Convenience Not Love and Pratibha Parmarʼs Sari Red / Ashwani Sharma -- South London Gallery Exhibition/Images -- Making Histories Visible -- Processes of Identification / Evan Ifekoya, Claudette Johnson, Raisa Kabir, Raju Rage, Rehana Zaman -- Contributors -- Exhibition Checklists and Image Credits -- Acknowledgements -- Colophon -- Selected Archives.
Summary: The publication developed from the exhibition and research project The Place Is Here (2016-19), which traced the urgent and wide-ranging conversations taking place between black artists, writers, and thinkers in Britain during the 1980s. Within the context of Thatcherism and a racist art establishment, a new generation of black artists and intellectuals produced some of the most compelling ideas and images in recent British cultural history. Across four exhibitions, The Place Is Here brought together over 100 works by 40 artists and collectives, spanning painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and expanded archival displays. Richly illustrated, the book includes thematic essays, close readings of works, and a series of panel discussions bringing together key scholarly, critical, and artistic voices foundational to art in Britain in the 1980s. The result is an intergenerational dialogue around pressing intellectual, political, and aesthetic debates, highlighting the significance of the work of these artists for the present.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction / Nick Aikens, Elizabeth Robles -- We Will Be / Susan pui san lok -- A Complex Unity : Articulating the 1980s / Nick Aikens -- The Urgency of the Now / Deborah Cherry -- Encounters with Art History / Laura Castagnini, Alice Correia, Priyesh Mistry, Elizabeth Robles -- Van Abbemuseum Exhibition/Images -- Reframing Art History / Elizabeth Robles -- Blk Art Group Research Project -- All the Rage : For Oluwale and Destruction of the National Front / Sonia Boyce -- Vanley Burke Archive -- On Dreaming Rivers : The Possibilities of Becoming / Chandra Frank -- Gavin Jantjesʼs A South African Colouring Book / Amna Malik -- Nottingham Contemporary Exhibition/Images -- The Place Is Here, the Time Is Now : Lubaina Himidʼs Toussaint LʼOuverture / Dorothy Price -- The Archive / Nick Aikens, June Givanni, Sarnia Malik, Marlene Smith -- June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive -- Bearing Witness / Sunil Gupta, Gail Lewis, Michelle Williams Gamaker -- Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art Exhibition/Images -- Mona Hatoumʼs Roadworks and Measures of Distance / Leon Wainwright -- Said Adrusʼs Zeitgeist, Chila Kumari Burmanʼs Convenience Not Love and Pratibha Parmarʼs Sari Red / Ashwani Sharma -- South London Gallery Exhibition/Images -- Making Histories Visible -- Processes of Identification / Evan Ifekoya, Claudette Johnson, Raisa Kabir, Raju Rage, Rehana Zaman -- Contributors -- Exhibition Checklists and Image Credits -- Acknowledgements -- Colophon -- Selected Archives.

The publication developed from the exhibition and research project The Place Is Here (2016-19), which traced the urgent and wide-ranging conversations taking place between black artists, writers, and thinkers in Britain during the 1980s. Within the context of Thatcherism and a racist art establishment, a new generation of black artists and intellectuals produced some of the most compelling ideas and images in recent British cultural history. Across four exhibitions, The Place Is Here brought together over 100 works by 40 artists and collectives, spanning painting, sculpture, installation, photography, video, and expanded archival displays. Richly illustrated, the book includes thematic essays, close readings of works, and a series of panel discussions bringing together key scholarly, critical, and artistic voices foundational to art in Britain in the 1980s. The result is an intergenerational dialogue around pressing intellectual, political, and aesthetic debates, highlighting the significance of the work of these artists for the present.