28-01-2020 visit to RWA

Visit to RWA exhibitions including Africa State of Mind and Refuge and Renewal, Immigration and Bristish Art. Visit to Bristol Museum exhibition, Being Human: An exhibition of modern sculpture.

Africa State of Mind - Young photographers and their exploration of identity, gender, sexuality etc. 

Provided me of a sense of how it feels to be my age in Africa. I gained a little experience of this when visiting Kenya in 2008, staying with a boy my age and finding out how he meets girls etc. And then going on nights out with a friend from Nairobi, meeting his friends from school, learning how to dance like an African (according to them), and a night out with a rugby team from Zimbabwe - most of whom studied in the UK. 

The most beautiful piece was by Lebohang Kganye, who after her mother’s death found old photos and clothing and re-enacted the image in the photo, layering the images with herself and her mother like a ghost. I felt this made a powerful connection between herself and her mother and i can imagine the making of these images as being quite cathartic for the artist.

Refuge and Renewal showcase some very well known artists who found refuge in the UK (mainly Wales - where I think my Nana was Evacuated during WW2). The works showed their connections to their new surroundings but also works made in support of their home nation. I loved... Sikert’s The Integrity of Belgium.

The colours are far more striking in reality. The background is full of bold and simplified brush strokes in pastel shades with the man in the foreground seeming to be from another image in his deep blues and reds. It is a wonderful painting but needs to be seen in the flesh, the brush strokes are so well placed.