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Amber Akaunu & Elliss Eyo-Thompson

The 5 Elements, Video, 2020

This film imagines a pre-colonial time when our ancestors lived in harmony with the elements. It is narrated by Eyo-Thompson’s words and filmed by Akaunu in locations across North West England and Wales in August 2020.

The Liverpool-based artists describe the film as ‘reflecting and exploring the connection that our ancestors will always have to Fire, Water, Earth and Air. It’s also a call to those who are spiritually searching within the materialistic led society we’ve been conditioned within for centuries.’

Bokani

Silence, Stained glass enamel, glass mirror, frame (aluminium, anodized), 2021

Bokani’s artworks are made by applying stained glass enamel onto mirrors. This gives them their highly reflective, fluid appearance. In a constant state of flux, these reflective paintings respond to their surroundings, their form shifting under different light.

Here, the viewer becomes a part of the artwork too, seeing themselves reflected amongst the flaming orange and yellow enamel. In this way, Silence explores the way our perception of reality can be altered visually and mentally.

Simone Brewster

Crown: Five Prong Comb, Four Prong Comb, Three Prong Comb, Black palm wood and sapele, 2023

Brewster’s practice encompasses painting, sculpture, furniture and jewellery, and reflects on Black women’s experiences and histories. The artist explains: ‘it’s about filling this gap that exists in the design world, where we don’t have design or objects that talk about histories and people who are like me.’

These combs were made by the artist by hand and are designed to be worn or displayed. They are inspired by the artist’s heritage, and African hairstyles, alluding to the problematic ways Black hair continues to be policed, discussed and treated in Western society.

Inner Voice, Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 2023

Brewster only began painting during the COVID pandemic in lockdown. It has since become an important part of their practice due to its immediacy. Inner Voice reflects the artist’s instinctive approach and characteristic use of colour.

The painting’s organic forms are intentionally reminiscent of the female body, a recurring subject in the artist’s work. Brewster is keen to confront the way women’s bodies are typically treated: 'a woman is judged for being sexy or intelligent or for having a nice bum… why can’t she be all of these things at once?’

Phoebe Collings-James

Infidal & steel base, cypher (cube) & slate base, and the net, Stoneware slip glazed ceramic on a steel base, cowbell, nylon cord, 2023

These sculptures are from the artist’s series bun babylon; a heretics anthology, which reconsiders the figure of the heretic: someone whose beliefs are at odds with those generally held. Often considered an outsider or traitor, the artist reimagines the heretic as a symbol of revolt and change.

An infidel is someone with no religion, or whose religion is not that of the majority. A cypher is someone without power, often used by others for their own purpose.

The ceramic surface of The Infidel has been decorated with a symbolic language using sgraffito, a technique where a layer of glaze is applied and allowed to dry before carving into it to reveal the base layer. This practice references the clay tablets of Babylonia (present day Iraq and parts of Syria and Iran) and Sumeria (present day Iraq) and challenges Euro-centric modes of knowledge.

Jade de Montserrat

Being hungry you know and kept on my feet, too, I was getting savage, Ink, crayon, watercolour, pencil, pencil crayon, felt-tip, pen and gouache on paper, 2015-17

Text is central to de Montserrat’s practice. Her works often quote or paraphrase key texts associated with decolonisation, as well as racist works, illustrated with her delicate and rich drawings.

This quote is taken from the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (1857-1924). Its fictional location was probably based on the River Congo, then brutally exploited by King Leopald II (1835-1909) of Belgium. The book has historically been interpreted as a critique of European colonialism and its brutality, but is itself full of racist language and stereotypes.

Necessarily pass through/Simply (Recto/verso), Watercolour, gouache, pencil, pencil crayon, ink, graphite on paper, 2016

These works are part of a series that depicts mounds and afro hair interchangeably. They are symbolic of an important moment in the artist’s life. They describe the works as ‘an attempt to illustrate the sense of belonging that I have achieved from the North York Moors National Park throughout my lifetime, invariably through listening and dancing to music. For me, this picture reminisces on the hours I spent dancing to Michael Jackson’s 1979 album Off the Wall or Neneh Cherry’s Raw Like Sushi (1989)…Katherine McKittrick names a similar experience that connects the diasporan experience: “Ioften proclaim that Michael Jackson and Prince brought black to me, musically, while I lived in these places…”.’

Study (after Stefano Harney and Fred Moten’s The Undercommons), Charcoal on wall, 2024

Drawn directly on the gallery walls, Study references Stefano Harney and Fred Motens’ 2013 book The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study. The text critiques academia, public policy and capitalist society. The artist’s use of charcoal is symbolic, linked to their interest in the intersections of race, colonialism, climate change and the environment. The artist describes charcoal as ‘material blackness carving into the fabric of the institution.’ In 2023, the artist launched ‘Soul of Fire Artists’ Charcoal’, a chunky, handmade charcoal, ideal for use by artists, that is made using salvaged wood.