The Place Is Here: Black Art exhibition opens in Nottingham

published 3 February 2017

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In 1982, a group of art students from the West Midlands organised the first National Black Art Convention in Wolverhampton. Bringing together multi-disciplinary mediums spanning writing, filmmaking, graphic design and more, they sought to lead a debate on the "form, functioning and future of contemporary art by black people". Two years later a second conference took place in Nottingham that examined the industry's response to the harsh economic, social and political realities experienced by the black community throughout the decade.

In a new show that has just opened at the Nottingham Contemporary, the city will pay tribute to the pivotal figures in this movement. Titled The Place is Here, the show takes its name from a line in a poem featured in contemporary African artist Lubaina Himid's artwork We Will Be. The exhibition will bring together works by pioneers such as recent Artes Mundi prize-winner John Akomfrah as well as Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, Eddie Chambers and Donald Rodney. They are founding members of the groundbreaking BLK Art Group, which questioned what black art was and what it could become in the future.

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A key device highlighted throughout the exhibition is montage. This is the technique of assembling histories and identities under new terms, with the work drawing on and subverting a mixed bag of historical references from William Morris to Pop Art. The work is contextualised against a backdrop of political turbulence and social inequality, bringing to the fore such topics as Margaret Thatcher's anti-immigration policies, black feminism and apartheid in South Africa.

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In today's uncertain political climate, these conversations seem as relevant as ever.

The Place is Here is at the Nottingham Contemporary from 4 February until 30 April; nottinghamcontemporary.org