Captured Beauty-Black Voices Cornwall selected works for Newlyn Gallery

 

 Captured Beauty - Feb 19 -18 June at Newlyn Art Gallery.

This show was curated by Abi Hutchinson, artistic director of Black Voices Cornwall, which is an organisation seeking to enable Cornwall to become actively anti-racist.

Members of the group had chosen contemporary art mostly from the Arts Council collection.
There is photography, painting, ceramics and video by black artists.
Some work documents black lives including the experiences of artists.

Oreoluwa Ahmed made a video, ‘Can you see us now?’ 2021 which has subtitles about ‘the black diaspora in Kernow’ and how she can feel like a ‘bocka du’ which is Cornish for ‘bad ghost’.

Catherine Lucktaylor in ‘Ashanti Moon’ 2022 has made an installation using ceramic heads of women and Ghanaian symbols from her father’s country, with meanings of remembrance and protection.

Dentil Forrester shows ‘Witchdoctor’ 1983 which is a large vibrant composition showing figures at a lively musical club. This artist now lives in Truro and has been into the show. I would have liked to hear him give a talk about his work but you can find one on YouTube.

Nectaros Stamatopoulos has paintings of refugees and immigrants from the area of Athens where he lives and observes people, saying that there is no overt message - but by choosing to show them he makes them visible. These were simply presented on the wall without frames and that made me think how this is a good way of exhibiting without the expense of frames and making the pictures so vulnerable and immediate.

Binrat and Niddy showed ‘ Martin Luther, King Mustang Car Bonnet’ 2020- a work donated to Black Voices Cornnwall’ after the murder of George Floyd in USA. Somehow the words being written on the metal car bonnet have more resonance than if they were just quoted on a page.
The quote says ‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.’

There is a lot more to see in the show and I was also approached and shown around by Ian, a designated host who was very knowledgeable and keen to discuss the show with visitors that wanted to talk to him.

Comments in the visitors folder showed people had really been enjoying the exhibition and it made them more conscious of the presence of black people in Cornwall - to date only 2% of the population.

I think it’s a good thing to have organised. It’s a pity an entrance fee of £4.10 is charged which will deter a wider audience. (It covers entry to the Exchange Gallery in Penzance during the same week- Tuesday to Sat 10-  5)  There is a delightful little garden cafe for drinks with some deckchairs out on the grass overlooking the sea.

Good to address the issue of race and discrimination - and I hope the gallery will continue to keep the representation of people of all kinds and abilities and classes in mind.