British Black Art: Debates on Western Art History

The conditions of development of British Black art are tied up with a social and cultural history of Europe, especially the anti-immigration policies of Margaret Thatcher and their consequences, such as the Brixton riots of the early 1980s. However, artistic productions from this period onward must now be understood within art history as model and agent of its revision. This essay suggests new narratives about canonical artworks of the British Black art movement, such as Lubaina Himid's 1984 Freedom and Change, Eddie Chambers' 1980 Destruction of the National Front and Sonia Boyce's 1986 Lay Back keep Quiet and Think of What made Britain so great, interrogating their critical agency from an art historical perspective. These artworks, art historian Sophie Orlando argues, imply a critical analysis of Western art history.