Hew Locke, (c) Tate Photography (Matt Greenwood)
Tate Britain Commission: Hew Locke: The Procession (c) Tate Photography (Joe Humphrys)
Tate Britain Commission 2022: Hew Locke: The Procession
23 March 2022 – 22 January 2023
For public information call +44(0)20 7887 8888, visit tate.org.uk or follow @Tate
Tate Britain Commission: Hew Locke: The Procession is supported by AGC Equity Partners, with additional support from the Tate Britain Commission: Hew Locke: The Procession Supporters Circle
Tate Britain today unveils The Procession, a major new installation by artist Hew Locke, the latest in the gallery’s ongoing series of annual commissions. Locke has taken over Tate Britain’s monumental Duveen Galleries with almost 150 life-sized figures – staging a powerful, unsettling and fantastical procession. Intricately hand-made, and bold in its use of colour, this extraordinary installation assembles a myriad of images and materials. It is Locke’s most ambitious project to date, bringing together themes he has explored throughout his career.
People of all ages travel from one end of the galleries to the other, through geography, time and culture. It evokes many kinds of procession: from celebratory to sorrowful, practical and ceremonial, to forced and voluntary. The Procession aims to spark ideas of pilgrimage, migration, trade, carnival, protest, social celebrations or our own individual journey through life. Visitors to Tate Britain walk alongside Locke‘s travellers, exploring the many layers of meaning, culture and history in his work.
Many of the participants in The Procession are an assemblage or collage of symbolic objects and imagery, such as militaria, Caribbean carnival characters, momento mori, floods, or obsolete share certificates. It is unclear whether some are wearing masks, or if these are their true faces. As the artist describes: ‘What I try to do in my work is mix ideas of attraction and ideas of discomfort – colourful and attractive, but strangely, scarily surreal at the same time.’
Locke’s installation highlights historical connections across time, and takes as its starting point the architecture and history of the gallery itself, and its founding benefactor sugar refining magnate Henry Tate. The Procession also moves through the centuries to address urgent contemporary concerns, including the climate emergency, Black Lives Matter and the invasion of Ukraine. The figures carry historical and cultural baggage with them on their journey. Costumes and flags bear images of decaying Guyanese architecture, evidence of rising sea levels, cargo and sail boats, tropical prints, slave ships as well as Caribbean cliches. Whatever the past, Locke’s people, whether on foot, horseback or carried, are assuredly moving forward into the future.
Alex Farquharson, Director, Tate Britain, said: “We are delighted to be unveiling Hew Locke's most ambitious commission to-date. The Procession is a powerful body of work that reflects on globalisation, colonialism, conflict, ecology and cultural identity. Alongside our Life Between Islands exhibition, this has been an exciting year of celebrating Caribbean British artists at Tate Britain, underscoring our commitment to showcase art that is reflective of the cross-cultural society we serve.”
Tate Britain Commission: Hew Locke: The Procession is curated by Elena Crippa, Senior Curator, Modern and Contemporary British Art and Clarrie Wallis, former Senior Curator, Contemporary British Art with Bilal Akkouche, Assistant Curator, Contemporary British Art, Hannah Marsh, Curatorial Assistant and Dana Moreno, Curatorial Administrator.
For press information contact eleanor.costello@tate.org.uk or catherine.poust@tate.org.uk
Images can be downloaded from Tate's dropbox site.
About Hew Locke
Hew Locke (b. Edinburgh, UK, 1959) spent his formative years in Guyana before returning to the UK in 1980, eventually completing an MA in sculpture at the Royal College of Art (1994). Locke’s solo exhibition, Here’s the Thing, opened at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK, in 2019 and toured to Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, USA and Colby College Museum of Art, Maine, ME, USA. Locke’s works have been included in The Folkestone Triennial (2011), Deptford X, London, UK (2012, participating artist curator), Prospect New Orleans Contemporary Art Biennial, New Orleans, LA, USA (2014) and Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art (2016). In 2010 Locke's work, Sikandar, was shortlisted for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, and in 2015 he was commissioned by Surrey County Council and National Trust to create The Jurors, a public artwork at Runnymede commemorating the 800th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta, which was nominated for the PMSA's 2016 Marsh Award for excellence in public sculpture. His work was also included in the exhibition Artist and Empire at Tate Britain (2015-16), travelling to the National Gallery of Singapore.
About Tate Britain Commission
Tate Britain Commission 2022: Hew Locke: The Procession opens 22 March 2022, and is free to visit. It is the latest in a series of annual commissions for contemporary artists to develop a new work for Tate Britain’s Duveen Galleries. Artists who have previously undertaken these commissions include Heather Phillipson (2021), Mike Nelson (2019), Anthea Hamilton (2018), Cerith Wyn Evans (2017), Pablo Bronstein (2016), Christina Mackie (2015), Phyllida Barlow (2014), Simon Starling (2013) and Patrick Keiller (2012).