Image: Courtesy Jack Arts (@Jack_Arts)
Running until 6 March
Free to visit
Starting this week, Tate is taking over billboards and buildings across London, shining a light on the stories and celebrating places connected to London’s Caribbean cultural heritage. Devised as a community-led extension of Tate Britain's Life Between Islands: Caribbean British Art 1950s – Now exhibition, the campaign will run until 6 March. This free, pop-up campaign features a host of personal, poignant, and never-before-heard testimonies from 20 leading artists, creatives, community leaders and members of Tate’s BAME staff network including Turner Prize and Academy Award winner Sir Steve McQueen CBE and fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner.
Over 40 markets, cinemas, clubs, restaurants, libraries, and community centres across the city are highlighted. Visitors are invited to hear the stories of those who have loved and used them, and how they have shaped London’s Caribbean communities, spanning the Stuart Hall Library in Pimlico to Dalston’s Ridley Road Market and Notting Hill’s Leamington Road Villas. Neil Kenlock, recently awarded an MBE, underscores the importance of the Black Cultural Archives and Brixton Market, whilst Wyn Baptiste, Director and Producer, and the son of one of Notting Hill Carnival early organisers, shares why ‘Trini Hill’, a corner of the Brunel Estate near Westbourne Park is his favourite festival spot. Photographer Ingrid Pollard reflects on summers spent working at Crystal Palace Farm whilst photographer Dennis Morris shares the moment he first met the iconic reggae artist Bob Marley.
Inspired by English Heritage’s Blue Plaque scheme, each location is visible through a billboard, pasted-up poster, or floor vinyl sticker – featuring exclusive anecdotes from each contributor. It has been made possible thanks to media space kindly provided by Jack Arts, the project's media partner. The campaign will be live for two weeks, with a map outlining the locations and stories available to download on Tate’s website here.
Highlights include:
Sir Steve McQueen CBE on why Saturday School trips to the Macbeth Centre in Hammersmith helped foster a sense of pride and community, whilst growing up in a hostile political environment, as a young child.
“As a black child growing up in the UK you are politicised from the start. You find yourself asking the questions who, why, how and what? This spot marked the place I attended Saturday school at five years old. For me, it was a space in which I felt a sense of pride and community within what was otherwise a hostile environment. It was, in many ways, the making of me and many others I am sure of it.”
Playwright Michael McMillan on seven places that shaped his childhood, adolescence and career including weekly Ridley Road market visits with his mum, Keskidee Arts Centre in Islington and Black Ink Collective.
“Keskidee Arts Centre was the first Black community arts centre in the UK, off Caledonian Road in Islington. It was run by the Guyanese-born Oscar Abrams, with the African-American Rufus Collin as Artistic Director. It was where Linton Kwesi Johnson developed dub poetry while running the library, Angela Davis spoke, and Bob Marley filmed the video for ‘Is This Love?’. I went there often as a teenager, seeing Black theatre productions like Edgar White’s ‘Lament for Rastafari’, Derek Walcott’s ‘Pantomine’ and Lennox Brown’s ‘Throne in an Autumn Room’. I would eventually become part of this world as a playwright
Artist Denzil Forrester’s expressive depictions of dance halls and clubs captured London’s 1980s dub scene in large oil paintings, exploring its African cultural roots. He reflects on seeing Jah Shaka play at Phebes – also the title of his 1983 painting – every Friday night, and the significance of Colvestone Youth Centre in inspiring his lifelong love of painting.
Photographer Dennis Morris moved to the UK from Jamaica as a child, growing up in east London. He shares how a club at St. Marks Church sparked his interest in photography, as well as the moment he first met Bob Marley outside The Speakeasy Club. After asking to take a photograph, Dennis was invited on Marley and the Wailers’ 1973 tour.
"During my last year at secondary school, I had read that Bob Marley was due to tour England for the first time. He was the new voice of Reggae. He had a rebellious stance, lyrically and musically; I was smitten. I decided to go to the Club where he was due to play his first gig of the tour. The Club was called the Speakeasy Club on Margaret Street, W1. I arrived in the early afternoon, and after waiting outside for a few hours, he and the band arrived for their sound check. As he approached, I asked him, could I take his picture. “Yeah, mon!” he replied, “Com’ in”. For whatever reason, Bob took to me and after the soundcheck, he invited me to come on the tour. The rest is history."
Fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner’s carefully researched collections encompass critical theory, musical composition, literature, and history, embracing a multiplicity of perspectives, via a hybrid of European and African-Atlantic approaches. For this trail, Wales Bonner unpacks why the Stuart Hall Library in Pimlico – home to the Inviva archive – has been so foundational to her work.
Senior Art Handling Technician at Tate, Mikei Hall delves into his childhood visits to the People’s Sound Record Store in West London, and why you can’t imagine Caribbean culture without its music, whilst Marketing Assistant Laila St. Vie shares why Burgess Park holds a special place in her family’s heart.
The full list of locations & contributors includes: fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner on the Inviva archive at Stuart Hall Library in Pimlico; playwright and artist Michael McMillan on Keskidee Arts Centre in Islington, Ridley Road Market and Four Acres Club in Dalston, All Nations Club in London Fields, Black Ink Collective in Brixton and New Beacon Books in Finsbury Park; The Voice’s Entertainment Editor Joel Campbell on Ridley Road Market; artist Denzil Forrester on Phebes Nightclub, Stoke Newington and Colvestone Youth Centre in Dalston; photographer Dennis Morris on St Mark’s Church in Dalston and the Speakeasy Club on Regent’s Street; photographer Charlie Phillips on The Distillery in Notting Hill; artist Ingrid Pollard on Crystal Palace Farm and Alexandra Palace; Hew Locke on the Ritzy cinema; artist Levi Naidu-Mitchell on Notting Hill Carnival, St Helen’s Bakery in Notting Hill and Westbourne Park station; founding member of Channel One Sound System Mikey Dread on Leamington Road Villas; photographer Neil Kenlock MBE on the Black Cultural Archives, Black and White Café and Brixton Market; producer and director Wyn Baptiste on Notting Hill Carnival’s Trini Hill; scientist Haroun Shah on Notting Hill Carnival, Maxilla Social Club in Ladbroke Grove; Louise Shah on Maxilla Social Club; sound artist CIL on the Curry Van in Peckham, Railton Road in Brixton and Matchstick Piehouse in Deptford; Kadi Diallo on Cummin Up Caribbean Take Away in New Cross and the Black Cultural Archives in Britxon; Mikei Hall on the People’s Sound Record Store and the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, Blue Mountain Peak in Camden; Laila St. Vie on New Beacon Books in Clapton, East Street in Walworth, Open Mic Nights at 91 Peckham High Street and Burgess Park; Sir Steve McQueen CBE on the MacBeth Centre in Hammersmith.
The pop-up poster campaign has been put together with creative street advertising specialists Jack Arts, part of the BUILDHOLLYWOOD family.
Life Between Islands Caribbean British Art 1950s – Now is at Tate Britain until 3 April 2022. The exhibition is curated by David A Bailey, Artistic Director of the International Curators Forum, and Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue from Tate Publishing and an anthology entitled Liberation Begins in the Imagination: Writings on British Caribbean Art from Tate Publishing and ICF the International Curators Forum.
The exhibition is supported by the Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, with additional support from the Life Between Islands Exhibition Supporters Circle, Tate Americas Foundation, Tate International Council, Tate Patrons and Tate Members. Research supported by Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational in partnership with Hyundai Motor.
About Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational
Over the past two decades Tate’s collection, displays and programmes have expanded beyond Europe and North America to be more open, inclusive, and reflective of its audiences. Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational enables a next decisive step on this journey by placing the exchange of ideas between art and artists from around the world at the very core of Tate. The Centre is transforming how Tate grows and shares knowledge about multiple art histories with individuals and organisations around the world. Its vision is to offer new perspectives on global art histories. Hyundai Motor’s support for the Centre began in January 2019 and will continue to June 2025, in addition to their support of Tate Modern’s annual Hyundai Commission which began in 2015. During this time the Centre will host several research events including annual symposia, seminars and workshops at Tate and beyond. For more information visit tate.org.uk/transnational.
About Hyundai Motor Company
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is present in over 200 countries with more than 120,000 employees dedicated to tackling real-world mobility challenges around the globe. Based on the brand vision ‘Progress for Humanity,' Hyundai Motor is accelerating its transformation into a Smart Mobility Solutions Provider. The company invests in advanced technologies such as robotics and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) to bring about revolutionary mobility solutions, while pursuing open innovation to introduce future mobility services. In pursuit of sustainable future for the world, Hyundai will continue its efforts to introduce zero emission vehicles equipped with industry-leading hydrogen fuel cell and EV technologies. More information about Hyundai Motor can be found at: http://worldwide.hyundai.com, http://artlab.hyundai.com or follow @hyundai.artlab
About Build Hollywood
We love cities. Not so much the corporate, controlled, concrete and glass metropolis but our social and diverse urban spaces - lively places where unexpected encounters await just around the next corner. By developing street level poster space in carefully curated locations across the UK we place creativity in the heart of our cities. The street is our soul, and we believe it is a space where emerging talent can share and be recognised alongside the best fashion, music and culture releases. We work with clients and collaborators to inspire to make genuine connections with our communities. Built on an art school mentality that stretches back decades to our founder, we have a talented collection of agencies – DIABOLICAL, JACK and JACK ARTS who specialise in their fields alongside highly skilled creatives who come together to produce street level poster campaigns, creative billboards, hand painted murals, interactive installations, ambient and unique experiential campaigns to create authentic interactions with people on the street. This combination of format, creativity and position is unique to BUILDHOLLYWOOD and is the reason we work with the most exciting brands, artists and creative institutions in the world. We are BUILDHOLLYWOOD; the creative street advertising specialists.
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For press information contact Catherine.Poust@tate.org.uk or Joanna.Sandler@tate.org.uk. A selection of high-resolution press images can be downloaded from Tate’s dropbox site.