The Time is Always Now: 7 UAL alumni included in the National Portrait Gallery’s major exhibition
- Written byEleanor Harvey
- Published date 28 February 2024
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Seven of the artists included in the National Portrait Gallery’s current major exhibition The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, are University of the Arts London alumni. The exhibition explores the depiction of the Black form within portraiture.
The 7 artists who graduated from UAL are:
- Hurvin Anderson (BA Painting, 1984, Wimbledon College of Arts)
- Godfried Donkor (BA Fine Art, 1989, Central Saint Martins)
- Kimathi Donkor (MA Fine Art, 2010, Camberwell College of Arts; Acting Programme Director for Fine Art: Painting, Camberwell; Course Leader for BA Fine Art: Painting, Reader in Contemporary Painting and Black Art )
- Denzil Forrester MBE (BA Fine Art, 1979, Central Saint Martins)
- Lubaina Himid MBE (BA Theatre Design, 1976, Wimbledon)
- Chris Ofili OBE (BA Fine Art, 1993, Chelsea College of Arts)
- Thomas J Price (Art & Design BTEC HND, 2001, Camberwell; BA Fine Art: Sculpture, 2004, Chelsea)
About the exhibition:
Curated by writer, and former UAL Governor, Ekow Eshun, the artists explore the Black figure through the mediums of painting, drawing and sculpture. The contemporary works all consider and celebrate figuration as a means of illuminating the richness and complexity of Black life.
One of the pieces on display is a new work by British artist, and Camberwell and Chelsea graduate, Thomas J Price. Titled As Sounds Turn to Noise (2023) - and the only piece created especially for the exhibition - the larger-than-life, fictional female figure challenges the concept of memorialisation in Britain, and the under-representation of Black people within art history.
In a recent interview with the Guardian, Price discussed how “Black British artists can no longer be ignored”, stating that he had taken inspiration from the generation that came before him “Looking at Frank Bowling’s work or Claudette Johnson’s work or Sonia Boyce’s work, it’s inspiring to see how they retained their identities, despite the fact they shouldn’t have had to.”
Sir Frank Bowling OBE graduated from Chelsea College of Arts, as well as being a former tutor at Camberwell. Dame Sonia Boyce OBE is the Chair in Black Art & Design Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts. She was the first Black woman to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale and won the Golden Lion prize.
