Entangled Pasts, 1768 – now, Art, Colonialism and Change, is an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London.
There are over 100 artworks forming, as the website says, a conversation about the role of art “in shaping narratives of empire, enslavement, resistance, abolition and colonialism – and how it may help set a course for the future.”
I’ll focus on two living artists of the many on show: Tavares Strachan, whose The First Supper (Galaxy Black) you can see for free in the courtyard, and Lubaina Himid.
Strachan used a print of da Vinci’s The Last Supper that hangs in his grandmother’s house as the starting point for this piece.
It brings together elements and references of his Bahamian childhood with 12 significant black historical figures including Haile Salassi, Harriet Tubman and Marcus Garvey in various poses of discussion as at a family meal.
The artist himself is seated to one side, in the place of Judas.
This installation by Lubaina Himid fills two rooms with exuberantly coloured cutouts of dancers, musicians, artists and traders. It would be easy just to walk past them but take a little time to look more closely.
These are all people of colour engaged in an activity, contributing to the society they live in.
Look behind each cutout and you will find the description with text, a balance sheet and a small pattern swatch in a plastic bag, the evidence of a life.
These two works are just a snapshot of the wide range to see and think about.