Artist reveals why her Turner prize victory was ‘bittersweet’

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/02/lubaina-himid-black-woman-turner-prize-race-bittersweet

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Lubaina Himid, the first black woman to win, in 2017, the Turner prize, has spoken of the challenges faced by her and other artists of colour in the early days of her career, saying the establishment considered them “alien”, and one person even told her: “Black people don’t make art.”

Speaking to Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, the Preston-based artist described her recent achievements as “bittersweet”, as they only came after many years of other black women being overlooked.

Himid, whose work focuses on colonial history, racism and institutional invisibility, was both the first black woman to win and, at 63, the oldest winner in the Turner prize’s 33-year history. She said her firsts had given her hope that things were finally changing in the art world.

“Being the first black woman was a bit bittersweet, because there are many black women that have been up for it in the recent history of the prize… I was happy to win it, but it was bittersweet.

“What people have said to me is that it gave people hope that things were changing.” She has called on people to build on this progress to make the art world a fairer place.

The artist, born in Zanzibar, said that at the beginning of her career, “We were not on the television, we were not in the newspapers, unless something drastic and dangerous happened. I guess the notion of black people being artists was completely alien to people in the British art world. Someone actually said to me ‘black people don’t make art’.”

The notion of black people being artists was completely alien to people in the British art world

Himid’s prizewinning work included pages from the Guardian featuring images of black people. She said the work, which dissects pictures and headlines for unconscious racial stereotyping, stemmed from her frustration at how black people were depicted.

Last year Himid, who is also professor of contemporary art at Central Lancashire University, was invited to the Guardian for a three-day residency that brought her face to face with staff responsible for producing a newspaper. She ran a debrief session to share what she had learned.