''No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990'' was a major public art and archives exhibition, the first of its kind in the UK, held at the Guildhall Art Gallery,
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
, over a six-month period (10 July 2015 – 24 January 2016),"Activism and Art" FHALMA website. with a future digital touring exhibition, and an associated programme of events. ''No Colour Bar'' took its impetus from the life work and archives of
Jessica Huntley
Jessica Elleisse Huntley (née Carroll; 23 February 1927 – 13 October 2013) was an African-Guyanese-British woman, a political reformer, prominent race equality campaigner, the pioneering British publisher of black and Asian literature, and a ...
(23 February 1927 – 13 October 2013)
Margaret Busby
Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 27 October 2013. and Eric Huntley (born 25 September 1929), Guyanese-born campaigners, political activists and publishers, who founded the publishing company Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications and the associated Walter Rodney Bookshop.
Comprising contemporary fine art combined with archive materials, the multi-media exhibition featured the work of seminal
Black British
Black British people are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens of either African or Afro-Caribbean descent.Gadsby, Meredith (2006), ''Sucking Salt: Caribbean Women Writers, Migration, and Survival'', University of Missouri Press, pp. 76–7 ...
artists and historically significant activists, and was described by
Colin Prescod
Colin Prescod (born 1944) is a British sociologist and cultural activist, originally from Trinidad, who in a career spanning five decades has worked as an academic, documentary filmmaker, theatre maker, and BBC Television commissioning editor, as ...
(chair of the Institute of Race Relations) as an "exposition of startling and radical imaginative works, addressing grand British cultural and historical matters, and touching on themes of existential and social restlessness". Participants in the Caribbean Artists Movement, such as
Winston Branch
Winston Branch (born in 1947) is a British artist originally from Saint Lucia, the sovereign island in the Caribbean Sea. He still has a home there, while maintaining a studio in California. Works by Branch are included in the collections of T ...
,
Aubrey Williams
Aubrey Williams (8 May 1926 – 17 April 1990) was a Guyanese artist. He was best known for his large, oil-on-canvas paintings, which combine elements of abstract expressionism with forms, images and symbols inspired by the pre-Columbian art o ...
,
Ronald Moody
Ronald Moody (12 August 1900 – 6 February 1984) was a Jamaican-born sculptor, specialising in wood carvings. His work features in collections including the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain in London, as well as the National Gallery ...
, were featured together with other prominent artists, including
Eddie Chambers
Edward Chambers (born March 29, 1982) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for a unified world heavyweight title in 2010. He was ranked as the fourth best heavyweight in the world by '' The Ring'' at the conclusion of 200 ...
,
Sonia Boyce
Sonia Dawn Boyce, (born 1962) is a British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator, living and working in London. She is a Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London. Boyce's research interests explore art as a social practic ...
Chila Kumari Burman
Chila Kumari Singh Burman (Punjabi: ਚਿਲਾ ਕੁਮਾਰੀ ਬਰਮਨ) is a British artist, celebrated for her radical feminist practice, which examines representation, gender and cultural identity. She works across a wide range of m ...
, with works on display across all media: painting sculpture, painting, drawing, illustration, photography and film. In conjunction with the art and archives, panels and talks led by the exhibition curators, Makeda Coaston and Katty Pearce, and featuring individual artists, writers and publishers, including Eddie Chambers, Errol Lloyd,
Fowokan
George "Fowokan" Kelly (born 1 April 1943) is a Jamaican-born visual artist who lives in United Kingdom, Britain and exhibits using the name "Fowokan" (a Yoruba language, Yoruba word meaning: "one who creates with the hand"). He is a largely se ...
Donald Hinds
Donald Hinds (born in 1934) is a Jamaican-born writer, journalist, historian and teacher. He is best known for his work on the '' West Indian Gazette'' and his fiction and non-fiction books portraying the West Indian community in Britain, parti ...
,
Kadija George
Kadija George , Hon. FRSL (born 1962), also known as Kadija Sesay, is a British literary activist, short story writer and poet of Sierra Leonean descent, and the publisher and managing editing, editor of the magazine ''SABLE LitMag''. Her work ...
,
Dorothea Smartt
Dorothea Smartt FRSL (born 1963) is an English-born poet of Barbadian descent.
Biography
The daughter of Caribbean immigrants from Barbados, Dorothea Smartt was born in London, England, and grew up there. She earned a BA degree in Social Scie ...
, Arif Ali, Sarah White, as well as Eric Huntley himself, were programmed.
Within the exhibition was a purpose-built interactive installation by
''No Colour Bar'' took its impetus from the cultural and political work of Guyanese activists Eric and Jessica Huntley, founders of the pioneering Black publishing house Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications (commemorating Caribbean resistance heroes Toussaint L'Ouverture of
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
), whose papers, business and personal, archive materials and collections were deposited in 2005 at London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), the first significant deposit there of records from the African-Caribbean community in London. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund,"Reflecting London’s diversity through art" , Heritage Lottery Fund, 16 January 2015. the exhibition is a collaboration between LMA, the Friends of the Huntley Archives at LMA (FHALMA), and the Guildhall Art Gallery, supported by the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
."Exhibition: No Colour Bar" , The City of London. The exhibition aimed to provide "an innovative look at Black British cultural identities, heritage and creative voices - and the struggle Black British artists faced to have their voices heard - from the 1960s to the 1990s"; according to project manager Beverley Mason: "To have created this culturally important archive and arts exhibition marks a valuable shift in thinking about the approach to opening up and enlivening archives and historical art collections worldwide.""No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 – Ground Breaking Revolutionary Archive and Art Exhibition in the Heart of the City" Black History Month 2015.
The exhibition was designed as a multimedia interactive experience, in which "art, sculpture, photographs and paintings can be explored next to letters and other artefacts illustrating how black artists were influenced by the emergence of independent African and Caribbean states, global liberation struggles and the struggle for dignified citizenship within Britain." With four themed areas — Elbow Room, Broad Shoulders, Clenched Fists and Open Arms — the exhibition "challenges visitors to question the meaning of 'black art'".Emily Chudy "'Breath-taking' art exhibition celebrates lives and works of Ealing cultural activists" Getwestlondon, 26 August 2015.
The installation at its centre (which necessitated the unprecedented covering up of the gallery's largest painting,
John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Anglo-Irish. Afte ...
's '' The Siege of Gibraltar''), recreated the bookshop named in honour of assassinated historian Walter Rodney, and served to show something of the connection between the championing of black writers, such as Linton Kwesi Johnson or Lemn Sissay, and the support of black artists — such as
and George "Fowokan" Kelly — through commissions for book covers, posters, greetings cards or the sale of works of art in the shop.Amandla Thomas-Johnson "Preserving Britain’s Black Heroes" '' The Voice'', 10 July 2015.
In addition to running for six months at the Guildhall Art Gallery, the exhibition toured as a digital exhibition and public programme at the
Black Cultural Archives
Black Cultural Archives (BCA) is an archive and heritage centre in Brixton, London, devoted to the histories of people of African and Caribbean descent in Britain. Also known as BCA, it was founded in 1981, by educationalist and historian Len Gar ...
,
Hackney Museum
Hackney Museum is a local history museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scienti ...
Receiving wide media coverage as a "new ground-breaking revolutionary archive and art exhibition in the heart of the City of London", ''No Colour Bar'' was described as "breath-taking" and as showcasing "some of the important aspects of the Black British Experience as well as some of the important figures that helped shape Britain and Black Britain".
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
's Jim Stenman reported on "one of the most comprehensive exhibitions on Black British art in recent years... hatexplores gender, race, representation and politics", interviewing Eric Huntley about the challenges of the past, in addition to Guildhall curator Katty Pearce, who said with reference to the exhibition: "This is part of British art history. This is the other story that maybe doesn't get told enough."
Amandla Thomas-Johnson writing in '' The Voice'' pointed out "a very visible tension surrounding the exhibition. Its home, the Guildhall, has been the administrative centre of the City of London for hundreds of year and it was here much of the economic policy that steered the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
across the seas was driven, where the wealth coming back from the colonies was dished out and whose permanent art collection is the epitome of Imperial chic." Also highlighting the history of the venue, the ''
New Humanist
''New Humanist'' is a quarterly magazine, published by the Rationalist Association in the UK, that focuses on culture, news, philosophy, and science from a sceptical perspective.
History
The ''New Humanist'' has been in print for more than 131 ...
'' review by Lola Okolosie found that "holding an exhibition that celebrates black British art at the Guildhall, with its colonial legacy, is an act akin to resistance".
The ''Soca News'' review, among others, drew attention to the monthly events linked to the exhibition and different aspects of the Black experience in Britain, including film, music, theatre, poetry, a conference and a Black Artists' Forum, while ''Artlyst'' concluded:
"The realisation that Britain was changing forever is no better articulated than through the lens of the pioneers of what was to become Black British cultural heritage. The Huntleys were the publishing powerhouses that spawned a dynamic generation of cultural and political leaders, whose stories are told and celebrated for the first time in the UK at this fascinating exhibition.
2015 sees the 10th Anniversary of the Huntley Archives at the LMA, and 'No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990' will be a fitting marker and visual record of the socio-cultural dynamics spanning the three decades"
Summing it up as the "Exhibition of the Year", independent curator
Hamja Ahsan
Hamja Ahsan (born 17 March 1981) is a radical left wing artist, writer, curator and activist. A multi-disciplinary artist, his practice has involved conceptual writing, building archives, performance, video, sound and making zines. Reoccurring t ...
wrote: "This was an archival show with the fire of life, the air of authenticity and the buzz of a multi-generational community.... For this reason, this remained for me the most essential and inspiring exhibition of the year."
Exhibition publication
*
Margaret Busby
Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...
and Beverley Mason (eds), ''No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960–1990'', London: Friends of the Huntley Archives at London Metropolitan Archives (FHALMA), 2018, 117 pp. ."No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 catalogue" Diaspora Artists.
Sonia Boyce
Sonia Dawn Boyce, (born 1962) is a British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator, living and working in London. She is a Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London. Boyce's research interests explore art as a social practic ...
*
Winston Branch
Winston Branch (born in 1947) is a British artist originally from Saint Lucia, the sovereign island in the Caribbean Sea. He still has a home there, while maintaining a studio in California. Works by Branch are included in the collections of T ...
*
Eddie Chambers
Edward Chambers (born March 29, 1982) is an American former professional boxer. He challenged once for a unified world heavyweight title in 2010. He was ranked as the fourth best heavyweight in the world by '' The Ring'' at the conclusion of 200 ...
Fowokan
George "Fowokan" Kelly (born 1 April 1943) is a Jamaican-born visual artist who lives in United Kingdom, Britain and exhibits using the name "Fowokan" (a Yoruba language, Yoruba word meaning: "one who creates with the hand"). He is a largely se ...
Claudette Johnson
Claudette Elaine Johnson (born 1959) is a British visual artist. She is known for her large-scale drawings of Black women and involvement with the BLK Art Group. She was described by Modern Art Oxford as "one of the most accomplished figurativ ...
*
Tam Joseph
Tam Joseph (born 1947) is a Dominica-born British painter, formerly known as Tom Joseph. Described as "a uniquely talented, multidimensional artist" by art historian Eddie Chambers, "Tam Joseph has contributed a number of memorable paintings tha ...
*
Kofi Kayiga
Kofi Kayiga (born December 1943), JamaicaArts.com. formerly ...
*
Chila Kumari Burman
Chila Kumari Singh Burman (Punjabi: ਚਿਲਾ ਕੁਮਾਰੀ ਬਰਮਨ) is a British artist, celebrated for her radical feminist practice, which examines representation, gender and cultural identity. She works across a wide range of m ...
Ronald Moody
Ronald Moody (12 August 1900 – 6 February 1984) was a Jamaican-born sculptor, specialising in wood carvings. His work features in collections including the National Portrait Gallery and Tate Britain in London, as well as the National Gallery ...
Aubrey Williams
Aubrey Williams (8 May 1926 – 17 April 1990) was a Guyanese artist. He was best known for his large, oil-on-canvas paintings, which combine elements of abstract expressionism with forms, images and symbols inspired by the pre-Columbian art o ...