England’s Walker Gallery unveils a powerful exhibit featuring over 40 Black female artists.
Before the ‘Conversations’ exhibit, the Walker Gallery had just two works by Black women in its 13,000-piece collection.
Liverpool-based artist and curator Sumuyya Khader shared with The Guardian about a new Walker Gallery exhibit, featuring Black women’s work, which opened on Oct 18.
“Conversations,” Walker’s latest exhibit, highlights over 40 Black female and nonbinary artists. Khader pointed out that the museum had a significant lack of diversity in its collection before this show.
“We’re surrounded by works of deceased white males,” she explained, noting that before the “Conversations” exhibit, the Gallery had only two artworks by Black women.
“When I was younger, I was always told to look up,” Khader shared. “But then you reach a point where you realize these histories are so dark. I want people to enter, feel the beat and the bass, and just say, ‘Wow!’”
The exhibit starts with sound rather than a traditional art piece, and Khader highlighted Zinzi Minott’s work, “Bloodsound,” as the perfect opener. Minott’s installation features transparent speakers filled with a red, sugar-based liquid, symbolizing the connection between the reggae music filling the gallery and its origins in the sugar plantations of the Caribbean.
The soundtrack from the speakers blends over 200 samples from Jamaican music legends like Marcia Griffiths, along with field recordings from Notting Hill Carnival, an interview with Minott’s grandmother just weeks before her passing, and a speech by former UK Health Secretary Nye Bevan about the creation of the NHS.
Minott explained, “I didn’t want it to feel like a party. There are moments where you recognize the song, but then it cuts… you can’t get too lost in it.”
“Conversations” came about when Walker Gallery staff and curators realized that, out of their 13,000-piece collection, only two works were by Black female artists—Edmonia Lewis and Lubaina Himid. This highlighted the lack of diversity in their collection, a problem seen throughout the British art world, even in cities like Liverpool with long-standing Black communities. Now, the Walker Gallery showcases influential artists from the 1980s Black Arts Movement, like Maud Sulter, Claudette Johnson, and Himid, alongside a new generation of artists such as Joy Labinjo and Olivia Sterling.
Artist Sharon Walters, whose work is now featured in the gallery, remarked, “I hope it inspires. This is truly about taking up space.”
Khader shared with The Guardian that she hopes this exhibit sparks a broader cultural shift in the art world, beyond just adding more works by Black artists to gallery walls.
“I’m the only Black person on my team, and we’re discussing acquiring Black art, but there’s discomfort around talking about Blackness. So where does that leave what we acquire? That’s my concern,” she explained.
She added, “These scales need to tip until a show like this isn’t seen as radical or different. It’s not—it’s simply a contemporary art exhibit.”
Khader emphasized the importance of the exhibit for Black women, both as artists and individuals, noting, “There aren’t any spaces in London that have done anything like this. It’s crucial for Black women because it hasn’t been done before.”
She also hoped “Conversations” would push Black art beyond just England’s capital, making it more accessible to those eager to see it. “Why can’t people come to us? We have the calibre,” Khader said.