'The Place is Here’ exhibit shows turning point in black art

CAIRO - 31 July 2017: 'The Place is Here' multimedia art exhibition at South London Gallery and Middleborough Institute of Modern Art sparks a conversation about a critical point in British history, when the UK was very divided.

‘The Place is Here’ revisits Britain in the 1980s, surveying how the new generation of artists responds to the shift in discourses. Curated by Nick Aikens, in collaboration with June Givanni, Lubaina Himid, Andrew Hurman and Marlene Smith, the exhibition displays artwork by more than 20 black artists through different media, including film, photography, painting and old archival material.

The 1980s were a pivotal part of black history because it was era of the post-civil rights movement, black feminism, anti-immigration laws and South Africa’s apartheid, which contributed to shaping and transforming black art.

South London Gallery screens a series of films for Isaac Julien and Martina Attille and displays numerous collections of paintings and photographs for Rasheed Araeen, Zarina Bhimji, Sonia Boyce, Mona Hatoum and Donald Rodney, amongst others, “to interrogate race, gender and sexual politics,” as Gallerynow.net described.

The exhibition is on display until September 10 at South London Gallery and October 8 at Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art.