Black UK Artist To Know

It’s an odd time at the moment, isn’t it? The culture sector has felt lock down hard too. As a nation we can’t go and visit museums, galleries, music events yet artists rely on being seen and heard for their livelihood. So I thought I’d take you on a tour, from your home, around an Art Gallery of sorts. This art gallery is designed to celebrate Black people’s art and voices and show more from the under-represented Black artists in the UK, bringing them into your home and hopefully making them more accessible to you.

I’ve provided links where I can and photos when possible, always ensuring I’ve credited the artist. 

Art and Patterns website has collated a short inspiring list of Black female visual artists in the UK - As Dee from Art and Patterns says “I hope this list makes you aware of these brilliant UK based Black female artists, are inspired by their use of colour and texture, and buy their art.”

Symone, A Black Drag Queen Finding Ways To Be Free is a stunning and moving visual art piece created by Lizzo’s creative director Quinn Wilson on Symone who shows vulnerabilities and opens up about her drag persona. 

Merissa Hylton from Reading, Berkshire is a multidisciplinary (mixed media) artist, curator, educator and founder of Black British Visual Artists. “Hylton has Amniotic Band Syndrome, which means she has no fingers on one hand. It is with her hands that she explores her identities as a Black disabled woman, feeling and manipulating the malleable texture of earth mixed with water” writes Alyssa Jaffer for Skin Deep Magazine. She’s currently creating some incredible ceramic Vagina Lamps alongside a series featuring Adinkra Symbols from Ghana. She’s certainly one to watch!

Vogue have written a beautifully articulate article on Black owned London galleries. 

Jacqui Ramrayka is a ceramicist who works primarily with porcelain she says for “its purity, fragility and strength”. She makes unique, one off pieces and is works from her studio, a converted railway arch in the East End of London.   

Black British Visual Artists is an arts & education organisation formed in 2017 to provide a platform for artists from the African and Caribbean diaspora in the UK to network, exhibit and share their work with the wider art community as well as provide education and mentoring for young & emerging artists. They’ve created an Artist Directory which is a list of UK based Black British Artists who are available for one-to-one art tutoring, mentoring and collaborative projects. 

Louisa is a London based talented artist who draws as well as uses crystals and resin to design beautifully unique pieces. She sells them from her Etsy page and shows her art via Instagram. She’s recently created a Black Lives Matter keyring whereby all proceeds made from the key rings will be donated to Black charities and organisations. 

And lastly ALHAUS Magazine have collated a list of three up-and-coming talented & passionate Black creators, offering you beautifully scripted write ups and awe-inspiring artwork.

There are so many different ways we can support Black communities and I certainly enjoyed writing this piece to amplify Black creators and artists. I hope you enjoyed visiting our ‘Art Gallery’ from wherever you are and I hope it was a pleasure to see such diverse creations & artists who you can support, now and always.  

Written by Nikita