P-Z

Emma Prempeh

Go Liming by Emma Prempeh. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary

Go Liming, Oil paint, acrylic, iron powder, print and imitation gold leaf on canvas, 2022

Prempeh’s cinematic paintings capture moments of domesticity and community drawn from the artist’s life. ‘Liming’ is Caribbean slang that describes hanging out with friends and enjoying the atmosphere.

Schlag metal, a brass alloy of copper and zinc imitative of gold leaf, is applied to sections of the painting. Over time, it will oxidise and shift the picture’s appearance, mirroring the passage of time. This contributes to the nostalgic feel of Prempehs’s work. The artist connects this to their British-Caribbean upbringing and a communal sense of homesickness and loss.

Khadija Saye

In this space we breath by Khadija Saye. UK Government Art Collection. No. 18859/1-9

In this space we breath, silkscreen print on paper, 1992-2017

Collectively titled in this space we breathe, this series of prints explores the artist’s mixed Gambian-British heritage. The artist explained: ‘the series was created from a personal need for spiritual grounding after experiencing trauma. The search for what gives meaning to our lives and what we hold onto in times of despair and life changing challenges. We exist in the marriage of physical and spiritual remembrance. It’s in these spaces in which we identify with our physical and imagined bodies. Using myself as the subject, I felt it necessary to physically explore how trauma is embodied in the black experience. Whilst exploring the notions of spirituality and rituals, the process of image making became a ritual in itself.’

Olivia Sterling

Lincolnshire Sausages by Olivia Sterling. Courtesy of the artist

ODE (Shines like a coin) by Olivia Sterling. Courtesy of the artist

Lincolnshire Sausages, Acrylic paint and oil stick on canvas, 2023

This painting is inspired by the artist’s hometown of Lincolnshire, which had the highest pro-Brexit result in the UK in 2016 and a high proportion of UKIP supporters. In 2024, it elected Richard Tice, deputy leader of Reform UK, to be its Member of Parliament.

The artist explains: ‘I had the idea of making a painting that imagines myself gathering UKIP members from my hometown, cutting them up and making them into sausages… Patriotism and xenophobia often go hand in hand, so UKIP members becoming the English icon that is Lincolnshire sausages seems quite apt.’

ODE (Shines like a coin), Acrylic paint on canvas, 2021

In this painting, a Black woman sits with her legs in a swimming pool, next to a bowl of white ice cream. It is one in a series made by the artist that uses food to explore ideas about whiteness and white supremacy. It is unclear whether the white marks on the woman’s body are sun cream or ice cream, applied to make herself whiter to meet Western beauty standards that favour light skin.

Maud Sulter

Clio by Maud Sulter. Touchstones Rochdale, Rochdale Arts and Heritage Service. No. 1408

Clio, Cibachrome, 1989

Sulter was an artist, poet and curator. Across their practice, they consistently critiqued the visibility and depiction of Black women and championed their Black peers.

This photograph is from the artist’s series ‘ZABAT’. It includes nine photographs based on the Muses of Ancient Greece, goddesses of the arts and sciences, typically depicted as white women throughout art history. Sulter’s photographs instead feature creative Black women. This is a portrait of the poet Dorothea Smartt (born in 1963).

Sharon Walters

Left: Breathe, Right: Serenity by Sharon Walters. Courtesy of the artist and HackelBury Fine Art

Breathe, Papercut giclée print on archival paper, 2023

Breathe comes from the artist’s ongoing series Seeing Ourselves, which includes artworks as well as podcasts, talks and events. The series aims to increase the visibility of Black women. Walters’ explains: ‘if we don’t see ourselves represented back, it can act as a barrier to not succeeding.’

The artist made this work by using a scalpel to cut away parts of the original photograph, including the figure’s face and parts of their jumper. It has been float-mounted, giving depth and a sense of movement.

Serenity, Papercut giclée print on archival paper, 2024

This artwork is a self-portrait, showing the artist in a moment of rest. They are depicted lying on a sofa. In keeping with the artist’s characteristic technique, their face has been cut-away.

The work calls to mind the long-established tradition of paintings displaying women at rest, often nude and eroticised, and designed for a male audience. Walter’s papercut reclaims the genre, presenting themselves in a genuine moment of repose and vulnerability, their blanket pulled up around their shoulders.

Jioni Warner

Brit(ish) by Jioni Warner. Courtesy of the artist

Brit (ish), Oil paint and collage on canvas, 2020

Warner is concerned with the experiences of Black women in society and how they are represented in popular culture.

The background for this painting is a photo transfer collage made of images found in online archives. They relate to far-right protests and riots linked to the Windrush Generation, including both scenes from the 1950s and present day. The painted figure is based on a photograph of the artist, dressed in 1950s style clothing, contemporaneous to the Windrush’s arrival.

Charmaine Watkiss

The Passengers by Charmaine Watkiss. UK Government Art Collection No. 19025

The Passengers, Pencil, graphite powder, coloured pencil and 22.9 karat gold on paper, 2020

The floral pattern on the clothing of the right-hand figure is based on a 19th-century William Morris design called ‘Windrush’. The ‘Windrush’ ship brought over 800 passengers from the Caribbean to London in 1948, in response to Britain’s call for help to rebuild after World
War II.

Watkiss explains: ‘I am interested in ideas around sovereignty and what constitutes Britishness, particularly where it concerns people who were born in the Caribbean, deemed as migrants despite being born British. I wanted to reflect on how Britain benefitted from their contribution.’

Alberta Whittle

Taking a leap toward the ancestors (remembering G) by Alberta Whittle. Courtesy of the artist and The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster Ltd., Glasgow

Tracing Shadows Amongst The Crows by Alberta Whittle. Courtesy of the artist and The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster Ltd., Glasgow

Taking a leap toward the ancestors (remembering G), raffia, acrylic, cotton, doillies, wool, felt, Florida Water and Bay Rum on linen, 2022

This hybrid artwork combines painting, textiles, found objects and scent. It is one in a series of works inspired by the artist’s dreams and family photo albums.

Whittle recalls: ‘my Grandad was a really keen photographer and so he would often take photographs of the family, especially at weekends when they would go on a Sunday drive and everyone would dress up… there’s something deeply political about seeing black people in moments of joy. For me that’s a deeply radical act.’

Tracing Shadows Amongst The Crows, Raffia, acrylic, cotton, doilies, hooded sweatshirt, wool, felt, sequins, Florida Water and Bay Rum on linen, 2022

Whittle’s work prioritises and promotes self- care and empathy, while addressing complex contemporary issues for Black communities linked to legacies of colonialism and transatlantic slavery.

The artist’s practice includes film, sculpture, drawing, installation and performance. They explain: ‘in my work you’ll find imagery, text, you’ll find objects – both personal to myself but also potentially to others – that all tell a story or contain a message or prompt… I often describe my work as collage – a piecing together of mediums and messages that hopefully unravel to tell a story.’

Joy Yamusangie

Left: Two Faced Boot, Remember Me - Rodeo King by Joy Yamusangie. Courtesy of the artist

Two Faced Boot, acrylic and oil bars on canvas, 2022

Olulode’s joyful paintings are sometimes inspired by people they know. Others are based on images from social media, films or television, or their imagination.

The artist is keen to challenge the conventions of painting in their work. Many of the techniques are borrowed from Nigerian Yoruba Adire textiles that use indigo inks and resist-dyeing techniques. Olulode says: ‘when you are a new emerging artist, you’re trying to find your own unique style… you’re always looking at how others have done it in the past, and thinking “how can I do it different?”’

Remember Me - Rodeo King, Acrylic paint, oil bars, pastels, pen on canvas, 2022

This painting reflects Yamusangie’s long held desire to ride a rodeo bull. They say: ‘I know I’d likely fall quickly, but I’d fall with pride in having so much faith in myself that I did it anyway, as something within me tells me I’d be great either way. The aspiration to be great is something that we all have in some form. It’s a way of people remembering us.’ The title refers to the artist’s wish to be remembered as someone who wasn’t afraid to try.

Michaela Yearwood-Dan

All I Am Is Everything And Nothing At All by Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Collection of Denise Coates CBE and Richard Smith

All I am is everything and nothing at all, oil, pastels, ink and beads on canvas, 2022

Yearwood-Dan’s paintings and ceramics are characterised by her signature botanical motifs, expressive brush work and handwritten inscriptions.

Their abstract style is indirectly political. Yearwood-Dan explains: ‘in moving away from figurative work, I felt like I was shedding this external layer of having to speak on behalf of a wider group – of being a woman, being black, being queer – all those other personas that I embody. By removing myself from this figurative context, which facilitates the continued commodification of the black figure, I was able to create work that felt more honest.’