We’re not at @courtauld anymore toto Finding myself in most interesting situations of recent. On my way to @darrenaronofsky premiere of The Whale at Venice Film Festival Who says academics don’t wear pink feathers? 🪶 Dress by @sabina.bilenko
an art historian wrapped in silk I’m currently writing an essay on the odalisque and think inadvertently started channeling the character? In the 19th C, the odalisque was a common fantasy figure really, fashion is often about reclaiming and exploring a fantasy a few snaps of @connerives and I, @juliahobbs_ bathroom touch ups at the @britishvogue x @mrselfportrait summer party @chilternfirehouse earlier this week ♥️ 📸 @jamesdkelly @davebenett
an art historian wrapped in silk I’m currently writing an essay on the odalisque and think inadvertently started channeling the character? In the 19th C, the odalisque was a common fantasy figure really, fashion is often about reclaiming and exploring a fantasy a few snaps of @connerives and I, @juliahobbs_ bathroom touch ups at the @britishvogue x @mrselfportrait summer party @chilternfirehouse earlier this week ♥️ 📸 @jamesdkelly @davebenett
an art historian wrapped in silk I’m currently writing an essay on the odalisque and think inadvertently started channeling the character? In the 19th C, the odalisque was a common fantasy figure really, fashion is often about reclaiming and exploring a fantasy a few snaps of @connerives and I, @juliahobbs_ bathroom touch ups at the @britishvogue x @mrselfportrait summer party @chilternfirehouse earlier this week ♥️ 📸 @jamesdkelly @davebenett
an art historian wrapped in silk I’m currently writing an essay on the odalisque and think inadvertently started channeling the character? In the 19th C, the odalisque was a common fantasy figure really, fashion is often about reclaiming and exploring a fantasy a few snaps of @connerives and I, @juliahobbs_ bathroom touch ups at the @britishvogue x @mrselfportrait summer party @chilternfirehouse earlier this week ♥️ 📸 @jamesdkelly @davebenett
Flashback… trying to keep track of which part of the 🌍 I’m on (and time zone!). I spend quite a bit of time flicking through my camera roll on flights, so here’s a little catch up from an incredible visit to Lagos 🇳🇬 and Accra 🇬🇭 the other week! A lot of it was top secret 🤫 but here are some snapshots from across my journey! It was incredible to deep dive into my culture and continue my ongoing research into Nigerian art & history for my upcoming projects, whilst also embracing my inner Yoruba AND Igbo girl and finding my place within the world. Accra was a deep dive (a long over due one) into an arts scene that is bursting at the seams with vibrancy. From visiting @thenoldorresidency and @okuntakinte, my good friend @adoramba from @ada_accra and meeting incredible artists such as @artistisshaq. I’m leaving fulfilled and eager to go back 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (luckily… really not that long! More soon)
Flashback… trying to keep track of which part of the 🌍 I’m on (and time zone!). I spend quite a bit of time flicking through my camera roll on flights, so here’s a little catch up from an incredible visit to Lagos 🇳🇬 and Accra 🇬🇭 the other week! A lot of it was top secret 🤫 but here are some snapshots from across my journey! It was incredible to deep dive into my culture and continue my ongoing research into Nigerian art & history for my upcoming projects, whilst also embracing my inner Yoruba AND Igbo girl and finding my place within the world. Accra was a deep dive (a long over due one) into an arts scene that is bursting at the seams with vibrancy. From visiting @thenoldorresidency and @okuntakinte, my good friend @adoramba from @ada_accra and meeting incredible artists such as @artistisshaq. I’m leaving fulfilled and eager to go back 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (luckily… really not that long! More soon)
Flashback… trying to keep track of which part of the 🌍 I’m on (and time zone!). I spend quite a bit of time flicking through my camera roll on flights, so here’s a little catch up from an incredible visit to Lagos 🇳🇬 and Accra 🇬🇭 the other week! A lot of it was top secret 🤫 but here are some snapshots from across my journey! It was incredible to deep dive into my culture and continue my ongoing research into Nigerian art & history for my upcoming projects, whilst also embracing my inner Yoruba AND Igbo girl and finding my place within the world. Accra was a deep dive (a long over due one) into an arts scene that is bursting at the seams with vibrancy. From visiting @thenoldorresidency and @okuntakinte, my good friend @adoramba from @ada_accra and meeting incredible artists such as @artistisshaq. I’m leaving fulfilled and eager to go back 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (luckily… really not that long! More soon)
Flashback… trying to keep track of which part of the 🌍 I’m on (and time zone!). I spend quite a bit of time flicking through my camera roll on flights, so here’s a little catch up from an incredible visit to Lagos 🇳🇬 and Accra 🇬🇭 the other week! A lot of it was top secret 🤫 but here are some snapshots from across my journey! It was incredible to deep dive into my culture and continue my ongoing research into Nigerian art & history for my upcoming projects, whilst also embracing my inner Yoruba AND Igbo girl and finding my place within the world. Accra was a deep dive (a long over due one) into an arts scene that is bursting at the seams with vibrancy. From visiting @thenoldorresidency and @okuntakinte, my good friend @adoramba from @ada_accra and meeting incredible artists such as @artistisshaq. I’m leaving fulfilled and eager to go back 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (luckily… really not that long! More soon)
Flashback… trying to keep track of which part of the 🌍 I’m on (and time zone!). I spend quite a bit of time flicking through my camera roll on flights, so here’s a little catch up from an incredible visit to Lagos 🇳🇬 and Accra 🇬🇭 the other week! A lot of it was top secret 🤫 but here are some snapshots from across my journey! It was incredible to deep dive into my culture and continue my ongoing research into Nigerian art & history for my upcoming projects, whilst also embracing my inner Yoruba AND Igbo girl and finding my place within the world. Accra was a deep dive (a long over due one) into an arts scene that is bursting at the seams with vibrancy. From visiting @thenoldorresidency and @okuntakinte, my good friend @adoramba from @ada_accra and meeting incredible artists such as @artistisshaq. I’m leaving fulfilled and eager to go back 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (luckily… really not that long! More soon)
Flashback… trying to keep track of which part of the 🌍 I’m on (and time zone!). I spend quite a bit of time flicking through my camera roll on flights, so here’s a little catch up from an incredible visit to Lagos 🇳🇬 and Accra 🇬🇭 the other week! A lot of it was top secret 🤫 but here are some snapshots from across my journey! It was incredible to deep dive into my culture and continue my ongoing research into Nigerian art & history for my upcoming projects, whilst also embracing my inner Yoruba AND Igbo girl and finding my place within the world. Accra was a deep dive (a long over due one) into an arts scene that is bursting at the seams with vibrancy. From visiting @thenoldorresidency and @okuntakinte, my good friend @adoramba from @ada_accra and meeting incredible artists such as @artistisshaq. I’m leaving fulfilled and eager to go back 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (luckily… really not that long! More soon)
Flashback… trying to keep track of which part of the 🌍 I’m on (and time zone!). I spend quite a bit of time flicking through my camera roll on flights, so here’s a little catch up from an incredible visit to Lagos 🇳🇬 and Accra 🇬🇭 the other week! A lot of it was top secret 🤫 but here are some snapshots from across my journey! It was incredible to deep dive into my culture and continue my ongoing research into Nigerian art & history for my upcoming projects, whilst also embracing my inner Yoruba AND Igbo girl and finding my place within the world. Accra was a deep dive (a long over due one) into an arts scene that is bursting at the seams with vibrancy. From visiting @thenoldorresidency and @okuntakinte, my good friend @adoramba from @ada_accra and meeting incredible artists such as @artistisshaq. I’m leaving fulfilled and eager to go back 🇳🇬🇬🇭 (luckily… really not that long! More soon)
Jewellery is also History. This necklace features the Idia Mask, and the image of the first Queen Mother, Idia of the 16th C Benin Empire. As an art historian, I believe history and legacy is all around us and so I choose to wear it around my neck also. The Idia Mask made me fall in love with history, and the way we can discover more about ourselves through art, history and archeology. Jewellery is a story, a history, a legacy and a message ♥️ 🇳🇬 Jewellery has the possibility to create and mean something truly special. Which is why I am delighted to be supporting the upcoming unprecedented collaboration between @TheArtOfWishes and @FabioSaliniJewelry raising money to grant life-changing wishes from @makeawishuk for children living with critical illnesses. Each of Fabio Salini’s pieces are works of art, exploring the juxtaposition of unexpected materials and truly unique designs – the result of which is full of imagination and magic. The impact of his jewellery mirrors the impact of a wish on a child’s life. This September, over 50 pieces of Fabio Salini’s exquisite works will be available at auction with @Sothebys and viewing is available now via the link in @artofwishes bio. #ArtOfWishes2022 #ArtOfWishes #Sothebys #SothebysJewels #FabioSalini #FabioSaliniGioielli #MakeAWishUK
Today I re-read articles and chapters for upcoming books I had written a while ago. It is fascinating to understand my thinking and how it develops… how the world bends and twists history and how we remember and see in real time. Nothing is concrete, history is in flux – ideas are never finite. That’s the most fun thing about academia. Can’t wait to share this chapter, in the upcoming title “Revisiting Modern British Art” with you all. 📚
A LOOK BACK AT BLACK VENUS @fotografiska 1: Zanele Muholi – Miss Lesbian I | Miss Lesbian II (2009) Zanele Muholi has been documenting the lives of Black lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people in townships in South Africa for decades. Muholi’s visual projects are all rooted in their desire to create a Black queer and trans visual history of South Africa. They see their work as a form of resistance, showing lived experiences that have long been marginalised and even erased. Muholi turns the camera on themselves, too, in a striking, theatrical series that explores the politics of race and representation. 2: Widline Cadet – On A Clear Day, I Thought I Saw Forever (2020) This image instantly draws up associations with the idea of beauty and desire. For Cadet, one of the earliest ways she became aware of her Boyd was through R&B and Hip-Hop music videos. “Seeing how other Black women in those videos occupied their bodies with a kind of freedom, confidence, and self-assuredness of their beauty and desirability was unimaginable to a shy, immigrant kid” Cadet reasons. On A Clear Day, I Thought I Saw Forever gives form to some of the memories of those videos from her early teen years, borrowing some of the visual cues from them. 3: Jenn Nkiru – Hub Tones (2018) Hub Tones is a mesmerising exploration of Nigerian-British director Jenn Nkiru’s heritage elicited by saxophonist Kamsai Washington’s explosive jazz-fusion cover of a Freddie Hubbard tune. Nkiru describes how Hub Tones gave her an “immediate ecstatic connection”, referring to an invoked sudden desire to delve into the culture of her ancestry. The film fixates on three female dancers who appear trance-like, dressed head toe with symbolism, as Nkiru considers the solidarity of Pan-Africanism.
A LOOK BACK AT BLACK VENUS @fotografiska 1: Zanele Muholi – Miss Lesbian I | Miss Lesbian II (2009) Zanele Muholi has been documenting the lives of Black lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people in townships in South Africa for decades. Muholi’s visual projects are all rooted in their desire to create a Black queer and trans visual history of South Africa. They see their work as a form of resistance, showing lived experiences that have long been marginalised and even erased. Muholi turns the camera on themselves, too, in a striking, theatrical series that explores the politics of race and representation. 2: Widline Cadet – On A Clear Day, I Thought I Saw Forever (2020) This image instantly draws up associations with the idea of beauty and desire. For Cadet, one of the earliest ways she became aware of her Boyd was through R&B and Hip-Hop music videos. “Seeing how other Black women in those videos occupied their bodies with a kind of freedom, confidence, and self-assuredness of their beauty and desirability was unimaginable to a shy, immigrant kid” Cadet reasons. On A Clear Day, I Thought I Saw Forever gives form to some of the memories of those videos from her early teen years, borrowing some of the visual cues from them. 3: Jenn Nkiru – Hub Tones (2018) Hub Tones is a mesmerising exploration of Nigerian-British director Jenn Nkiru’s heritage elicited by saxophonist Kamsai Washington’s explosive jazz-fusion cover of a Freddie Hubbard tune. Nkiru describes how Hub Tones gave her an “immediate ecstatic connection”, referring to an invoked sudden desire to delve into the culture of her ancestry. The film fixates on three female dancers who appear trance-like, dressed head toe with symbolism, as Nkiru considers the solidarity of Pan-Africanism.
A LOOK BACK AT BLACK VENUS @fotografiska 1: Zanele Muholi – Miss Lesbian I | Miss Lesbian II (2009) Zanele Muholi has been documenting the lives of Black lesbian gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people in townships in South Africa for decades. Muholi’s visual projects are all rooted in their desire to create a Black queer and trans visual history of South Africa. They see their work as a form of resistance, showing lived experiences that have long been marginalised and even erased. Muholi turns the camera on themselves, too, in a striking, theatrical series that explores the politics of race and representation. 2: Widline Cadet – On A Clear Day, I Thought I Saw Forever (2020) This image instantly draws up associations with the idea of beauty and desire. For Cadet, one of the earliest ways she became aware of her Boyd was through R&B and Hip-Hop music videos. “Seeing how other Black women in those videos occupied their bodies with a kind of freedom, confidence, and self-assuredness of their beauty and desirability was unimaginable to a shy, immigrant kid” Cadet reasons. On A Clear Day, I Thought I Saw Forever gives form to some of the memories of those videos from her early teen years, borrowing some of the visual cues from them. 3: Jenn Nkiru – Hub Tones (2018) Hub Tones is a mesmerising exploration of Nigerian-British director Jenn Nkiru’s heritage elicited by saxophonist Kamsai Washington’s explosive jazz-fusion cover of a Freddie Hubbard tune. Nkiru describes how Hub Tones gave her an “immediate ecstatic connection”, referring to an invoked sudden desire to delve into the culture of her ancestry. The film fixates on three female dancers who appear trance-like, dressed head toe with symbolism, as Nkiru considers the solidarity of Pan-Africanism.
So excited to be speaking at this years Cliveden Literary Festival alongside a brilliant panel! As a historian, evaluating what history means as the world develops, shifts and metamorphoses is the most engaging aspect. Born curious, it is exciting to be able to traverse new worlds, visit the minds and ideas of great historians I admire (and share discussions with them!) and present new ways of seeing the world, humanity and ourselves. History is living and breathing, pulsing and vibrating… it is Alive. ⚡️ Tickets are available to purchase online 🎟
book club pending cc: chinua achebe, @profdanhicks aime cesaire
A LOOK BACK AT BLACK VENUS @fotografiska 1: Carrie Mae Weems – Not Manet’s Type (2010) Not Manet’s Type is a 2010 offset photolithograph reproducing the second installation of a five-part photographic series that was created in 1997. A nude self-portrait of the artist shows her standing in a classic contra-posts pose at the foot of an unmade bed, as reflected in the round mirror of a dresser. By servicing as both muse and creator, Weems imparts a sly duality to her challenge: is she referring to the scrutiny of herself as the composition’s subject, or the critical study of her artistic output as a whole? 2: Alberta Whittle – C Is For Colonial Fantasy (2017) Alberta Whittle works with a variety of media including film, interactive installations, sculpture, collage, and performance, aiming to unsettle people from their positions of privilege and passivity to elicit collective care and compassion. Whittle investigates the differences in acknowledging these histories geographically. In this digital collage, Whittle seeks to convey structural concerns such as inequality, race, postcolonial power, language, and memories. When looking through an Afrofuturist lens, perhaps the audience is being told that freedom will be found among the stars after escaping the inequalities on Earth. 3/4: Coreen Simpon – Black Girl with Eye (1992) | Black Girl, African Queen (1992) | Masked Nude (ca 1990s) Coreen Simpson’s photographic career began in the early 1980s. Initially, she covered political events and shot the biggest artists, athletes, and icons of the time, particularly the stylish black youth of the 1980s club scene in New York City. In these works, Simpson confronts the idea of the Black female body and gaze. In Black Girl with Eye, an eye is enlarged, giving agency to the female sitter. In Black Girl, African Queen and Masked Nude, Simpson complicates the image with the introduction of African masks—asking the viewer to question the narrow stereotypes by which we see race, and the exoticization and fetishisation the Black woman has experienced historically.
A LOOK BACK AT BLACK VENUS @fotografiska 1: Carrie Mae Weems – Not Manet’s Type (2010) Not Manet’s Type is a 2010 offset photolithograph reproducing the second installation of a five-part photographic series that was created in 1997. A nude self-portrait of the artist shows her standing in a classic contra-posts pose at the foot of an unmade bed, as reflected in the round mirror of a dresser. By servicing as both muse and creator, Weems imparts a sly duality to her challenge: is she referring to the scrutiny of herself as the composition’s subject, or the critical study of her artistic output as a whole? 2: Alberta Whittle – C Is For Colonial Fantasy (2017) Alberta Whittle works with a variety of media including film, interactive installations, sculpture, collage, and performance, aiming to unsettle people from their positions of privilege and passivity to elicit collective care and compassion. Whittle investigates the differences in acknowledging these histories geographically. In this digital collage, Whittle seeks to convey structural concerns such as inequality, race, postcolonial power, language, and memories. When looking through an Afrofuturist lens, perhaps the audience is being told that freedom will be found among the stars after escaping the inequalities on Earth. 3/4: Coreen Simpon – Black Girl with Eye (1992) | Black Girl, African Queen (1992) | Masked Nude (ca 1990s) Coreen Simpson’s photographic career began in the early 1980s. Initially, she covered political events and shot the biggest artists, athletes, and icons of the time, particularly the stylish black youth of the 1980s club scene in New York City. In these works, Simpson confronts the idea of the Black female body and gaze. In Black Girl with Eye, an eye is enlarged, giving agency to the female sitter. In Black Girl, African Queen and Masked Nude, Simpson complicates the image with the introduction of African masks—asking the viewer to question the narrow stereotypes by which we see race, and the exoticization and fetishisation the Black woman has experienced historically.
A LOOK BACK AT BLACK VENUS @fotografiska 1: Carrie Mae Weems – Not Manet’s Type (2010) Not Manet’s Type is a 2010 offset photolithograph reproducing the second installation of a five-part photographic series that was created in 1997. A nude self-portrait of the artist shows her standing in a classic contra-posts pose at the foot of an unmade bed, as reflected in the round mirror of a dresser. By servicing as both muse and creator, Weems imparts a sly duality to her challenge: is she referring to the scrutiny of herself as the composition’s subject, or the critical study of her artistic output as a whole? 2: Alberta Whittle – C Is For Colonial Fantasy (2017) Alberta Whittle works with a variety of media including film, interactive installations, sculpture, collage, and performance, aiming to unsettle people from their positions of privilege and passivity to elicit collective care and compassion. Whittle investigates the differences in acknowledging these histories geographically. In this digital collage, Whittle seeks to convey structural concerns such as inequality, race, postcolonial power, language, and memories. When looking through an Afrofuturist lens, perhaps the audience is being told that freedom will be found among the stars after escaping the inequalities on Earth. 3/4: Coreen Simpon – Black Girl with Eye (1992) | Black Girl, African Queen (1992) | Masked Nude (ca 1990s) Coreen Simpson’s photographic career began in the early 1980s. Initially, she covered political events and shot the biggest artists, athletes, and icons of the time, particularly the stylish black youth of the 1980s club scene in New York City. In these works, Simpson confronts the idea of the Black female body and gaze. In Black Girl with Eye, an eye is enlarged, giving agency to the female sitter. In Black Girl, African Queen and Masked Nude, Simpson complicates the image with the introduction of African masks—asking the viewer to question the narrow stereotypes by which we see race, and the exoticization and fetishisation the Black woman has experienced historically.
A LOOK BACK AT BLACK VENUS @fotografiska 1: Carrie Mae Weems – Not Manet’s Type (2010) Not Manet’s Type is a 2010 offset photolithograph reproducing the second installation of a five-part photographic series that was created in 1997. A nude self-portrait of the artist shows her standing in a classic contra-posts pose at the foot of an unmade bed, as reflected in the round mirror of a dresser. By servicing as both muse and creator, Weems imparts a sly duality to her challenge: is she referring to the scrutiny of herself as the composition’s subject, or the critical study of her artistic output as a whole? 2: Alberta Whittle – C Is For Colonial Fantasy (2017) Alberta Whittle works with a variety of media including film, interactive installations, sculpture, collage, and performance, aiming to unsettle people from their positions of privilege and passivity to elicit collective care and compassion. Whittle investigates the differences in acknowledging these histories geographically. In this digital collage, Whittle seeks to convey structural concerns such as inequality, race, postcolonial power, language, and memories. When looking through an Afrofuturist lens, perhaps the audience is being told that freedom will be found among the stars after escaping the inequalities on Earth. 3/4: Coreen Simpon – Black Girl with Eye (1992) | Black Girl, African Queen (1992) | Masked Nude (ca 1990s) Coreen Simpson’s photographic career began in the early 1980s. Initially, she covered political events and shot the biggest artists, athletes, and icons of the time, particularly the stylish black youth of the 1980s club scene in New York City. In these works, Simpson confronts the idea of the Black female body and gaze. In Black Girl with Eye, an eye is enlarged, giving agency to the female sitter. In Black Girl, African Queen and Masked Nude, Simpson complicates the image with the introduction of African masks—asking the viewer to question the narrow stereotypes by which we see race, and the exoticization and fetishisation the Black woman has experienced historically.
BBC FRONT ROW ⭐️ So excited to be on @bbc Front Row! It was a pleasure to discuss BLACK VENUS in the context of Immy Humes’s book, The Only Woman As someone who very much experiences the feeling of being the only woman, as a black woman, curator, and art historian, I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to partake in this conversation and discuss many central themes that intersect with my exhibition, BLACK VENUS, which is on until the August 21st (last few days!) at @fotografiska.newyork Listen to the entire episode @bbc ♥️ and certainly pick up Immy Humes’ excellent book, The Only Woman published by @phaidonpress
