Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of a Man (probably Francis Barber), 1770. Courtesy, The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas.
In this curator’s introduction to the Royal Academy’s major exhibition, Professor Dorothy Price explains how Entangled Pasts places works by contemporary artists such as Sonia Boyce, Frank Bowling, John Akomfrah and Isaac Julien alongside artists from the past 250 years including Joshua Reynolds, J.M.W.Turner and John Singleton Copley – creating connections across time which explore questions of power, representation and history.
The life-size painted cut-out figures of Lubaina Himid’s installation Naming the Money, and Hew Locke’s Armada, a flotilla of ‘votive boats’, recall different periods and places. Also presented are powerful paintings, photographs, sculptures, drawings and prints by El Anatsui, Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, Shahzia Sikander, Mohini Chandra and Betye Saar.
Informed by its own history, the exhibition engages artists connected to the RA to explore themes of migration, exchange, artistic traditions, identity and belonging.
Entangled Pasts, 1760-now: Art Colonialism and Change is at the Royal Academy of Arts from 3 February to 28 April 2024. The free audio-guide for the exhibition is supported by an ARTscapades grant.
Proceeds from ARTscapades ticket sales benefit museums, galleries and other arts-based organisations and projects.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live, or on-demand for one month afterwards. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends.