The Essential Black Art was an art exhibition held at the Chisenhale Gallery in 1988, curated by Rasheed Araeen. The exhibition contained the work of nine artists: Araeen, Zarina Bhimji, Sutapa Biswas, Sonia Boyce, Eddie Chambers, Alan de Souza, Mona Hatoum, Gavin Jantjes and Keith Piper. It provided a foretaste of Araeem's larger exhibition of the following year, The Other Story.[1]
The exhibition catalogue contained several essays, including a paper which Araeen had given to the 1982 First National Black Art Convention.[1] Araeen argued against identifying 'Black Art' as "whatever is produced by black artists", or seeing it as exemplifying "Asian/African traditions". Rather, Black Art was a "specific contemporary art practice that has emerged directly from the struggle of Asian, African and the Caribbean people (i.e. black people) against racism".[2]
References edit
- ^ a b Niru Ratnam (2002). "The Essential Black Art". In Alison Donnell (ed.). Companion to Contemporary Black British Culture. Routledge. pp. 105–6. ISBN 978-1-134-70025-7.
- ^ Chisenhale Gallery, The Essential Black Art. London: Chisenhale Gallery, 1982.