Tako Taal
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Tako Taal is a Welsh-Gambian artist, filmmaker and programmer based in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. Her work looks at the social and psychic impact of colonialism. Her work has been reviewed in ''
Art Monthly ''Art Monthly'' is a magazine of contemporary art founded in 1976 by Jack Wendler and Peter Townsend. It is based in London and has an international scope, although its main focus is on British art. The magazine is published ten times a year (wit ...
'', the ''Scotsman'', and
Studio International ''Studio International'' is an international illustrated contemporary art magazine, formerly published in hard copy in London from 1964 until 1992, and electronically published since 2000. It incorporated an earlier magazine, '' The Studio: An ...
.


Early life and education

Tako Taal was born in
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
in 1989 with her family originating from
Jufureh Jufureh (also spelled Juffureh or Juffure) is a town in the Gambia, 30 kilometers inland on the north bank of the River Gambia in the North Bank Division near James Island. The town is home to a museum and Fort Jillifree. Jufureh is known for it ...
, in
the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
. She attended
Gray's School of Art Gray's School of Art is the Robert Gordon University, Robert Gordon University's art school, located in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of the oldest established fine art institutions in Scotland and one of Scotland's five art schools today, and ...
in
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, studying contemporary art practice, and graduated in 2015. Taal was highly commended in the fine art category of her degree show, one of two people out of 150 undergraduates.


Practice

Taal's films look at multiplicities of identity, and explore the social and historical significance of her father’s home, Jufureh, and myth-making about returning to places that no longer exist except in "topographies of grief and loss".


Career

Taal was a committee member at the Market Gallery in Glasgow from 2016 to 2018. In 2018-2020, she was Artist in Residence at the
Talbot Rice Gallery Talbot Rice Gallery is the public art gallery of the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland. With a 19th-century former natural history museum and a contemporary white cube gallery. History The University of Edinburgh's historic Old College wa ...
in
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, and in 2019, was RAW Academy fellow at RAW Material Company in
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
. Having not visited for 11 years, she travelled to the Gambia in 2016, and filmed at the Gambia Tourism and Hospitality Institute. This footage was incorporated into 2017's ''You Know it but it Don’t Know You.'' Taal and fellow artist Adam Benmakhlouf programmed ''Give Birth to Me Tomorrow,'' the 2021 artists' moving image festival by LUX Scotland, held at the Tramway, in Glasgow. Originally planned to be a weekend event, but in response to the continued difficulties of the
Covid-19 pandemic in the UK The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confirm ...
, it took place on several weekends throughout 2021, in a programme aligned with the
lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gre ...
. ''At the shore, everything touches'' (2021) explored Taal's relationship with her father's home village, as well as the history of the area with relation to the
Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
. (It is close to
Kunta Kinteh Island Kunta Kinteh Island, formerly called James Island and St Andrew's Island, is an island in the Gambia River, from the river mouth and near Juffureh in the Republic of the Gambia. Fort James is located on the island. It is less than 3.2 km ...
(formerly known as James Island), a European (and later British) colonial fort.)
Art Monthly ''Art Monthly'' is a magazine of contemporary art founded in 1976 by Jack Wendler and Peter Townsend. It is based in London and has an international scope, although its main focus is on British art. The magazine is published ten times a year (wit ...
described the work as establishing Taal ''"as among the most important multidisciplinary artists working today."'' ''Halo Nevus'' (2021), also explores her relationship with her paternal home country through the use of her birthmark as central character; following its slow fade over a period of five years. Taal was an associate artist at the 2021
Edinburgh Art Festival The Edinburgh Art Festival is an annual visual arts festival, held in Edinburgh, Scotland, during August and coincides with the Edinburgh International and Fringe festivals. The Art Festival was established in 2004, and receives public funding fr ...
, commissioning six new pieces from other artists which would engage with the themes of
Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and distinguished professor of the arts at UC Santa Cruz. Early life Julien was born in the East End ...
's 2019 film ''Lessons of the Hour''. Pieces included work from Scotland-based artists Chizu Anucha, Sequoia Barnes, Thulani Rachia, and Matthew Arthur Williams. She also completed her residency at the Studio Pavilion in Glasgow, where she has been creating work for her first institutional solo show, launching at Dundee Contemporary Arts late 2021.


Selected exhibitions

* 2017 - ''Compound'', Intermedia Gallery, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow * 2018 - ''Inherited Premises'', Grand Union, Birmingham * 2019 - ''A Spoon is the Safest Vessel'', Glasgow Women’s Library * 2020 - ''Survey II'', Jerwood Arts * 2021 - ''At the shore, everything touches'',
Dundee Contemporary Arts Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) is an art centre in Dundee, Scotland, with two contemporary art galleries, a two-screen cinema, a print studio, a learning and public engagement programme, a shop and a café bar. The director of DCA is Beth Bate ...


Awards

* 2021 - shortlisted for the
Margaret Tait Award The Margaret Tait Award is a moving image prize for artists living and working in Scotland. It is named after the Orcadian filmmaker and writer Margaret Tait (1918–99). Recipients of the award have included Alberta Whittle, Charlotte Prodger, ...
* 2021 - shortlisted for The Kleinwort Hambros Emerging Artist Prize


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taal, Tako Alumni of Gray's School of Art Scottish artists Welsh artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Welsh film directors Gambian art Gambian film directors