The artist who skewers white privilege

–          Art exploring the truth about our planet

Himid is among the most influential black British artists alive today, and has been creating art for more than four decades. “Himid’s work has encouraged many to take risks – to re-think the places we inhabit, and incite the changes we want to see,” says Amrita Dhallu, co-curator of Himid’s retrospective at the Tate Modern, which opens this week. “She invites us to consider the kinds of spaces that inspire our creativity, and the materials we need to imagine and make freely. Works in the exhibition, which include paintings on canvas, furniture and textiles, are brought to life with sound and poetry.”

Courtesy the artist/ Hollybush Gardens

Himid was born in Zanzibar in 1954, and moved to England before her first birthday. As an adult, she studied theatre design at Wimbledon College of Art, and obtained a masters degree in cultural history at the Royal College of Art. But despite her studies, her art has predominantly taken a different turn. “I became more interested in drumming up real life [than making sets for plays],” she says.

In 2010, she was appointed MBE for her services to black women’s art; in 2017, she won the Turner Prize; and, in 2018, she was made a CBE. Her emotive artworks have also been purchased by high-profile people, including Italian art collector Valeria Napoleone, who has Her Prints on Me (2017) hanging in her home, as seen in W Magazine. Curator Zoé Whitley and artist Joy Labinjo have both cited her as a source of inspiration. “A key lesson I learned is one that Himid taught me early on: Listen to artists,” Whitley told Artsy.