Sixty Years: The Unfinished Conversation

Linder, She/She  1981, printed 2007

She/She consists of fourteen black and white photographs, nine of which are portraits of Linder and the remaining five are photographs of short sections of text written in a typewriter font. The prints are presented in black frames, usually displayed in two horizontal rows of seven to be viewed in the sequence top row left to right, bottom row left to right, with the text pages interspersing the portraits. The photographs of Linder are by the Swiss photographer Christine Birrer, with whom Linder collaborated at this time on a number of different projects. The work was first produced in a booklet Pickpocket: SheShe 1981 to coincide with the release of a six-track cassette tape, Pickpocket, by the group Ludus, of which Linder was a member. The booklet format was slightly different to that originally conceived, and as it has now been printed and editioned. The fragments of text are written by Linder and taken from three of the songs on the cassette, Mutilate, The Fool and Mouthpiece. They refer to the themes of hiding, searching and finding evoked in the images.

Mona Hatoum, Performance Still  1985–95

Mona Hatoum first became known in the early 1980s for a series of performance and video pieces which used her own body as a site for exploring the fragility and strength of the human condition under duress. Performance Still 1985 records one of three street performances which Hatoum carried out in Brixton for the Roadworks exhibition organised in 1985 by the Brixton Artists Collective. The performance consisted of the artist walking barefoot through the streets of Brixton for nearly an hour, with Doc Marten boots, usually worn by both police and skinheads, attached to her ankles by their laces. Performance Still, printed and published ten years later turns the original documentary photograph of the performance into a work in its own right, and has therefore come to identify this aspect of Hatoum’s practice.

Gallery label, October 2013

Wolfgang Tillmans, The State We’re In, A  2015

The State We’re In, A, 2015 is an unframed inkjet print on paper. The photograph was taken from the end of a pier in Porto, Portugal using a high-resolution, full-format 35-mm digital camera, capturing a stark stretch of the Atlantic Ocean, where international time lines and borders intersect. The surface of the sea is agitated and ominous, the digital camera revealing in intense detail the topology of the water’s surface. This detail, in combination with the dark and moody colours of the Atlantic on a grey day and the imposing scale of the work, give it a brooding feeling of foreboding. Tate’s copy of the work is the only one in the edition, although an artist’s proof also exists.

Sunil Gupta, John & John, London  1985, printed 2018

This is one of a group of photographs in Tate’s collection from Sunil Gupta’s Lovers: Ten Years On, a series of over thirty black and white portraits of gay couples taken in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1986 (Tate P82123–P82137 and Ian and Julian P13784). With the exception of Martin & Gary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1984 (Tate P82123), they were all taken in London. Lovers: Ten Years On was made after Gupta’s own ten-year relationship ended and, as a form of social analysis, he decided to document the long-term gay relationships he encountered and the changing sensibilities of the social environment he found himself a part of. Most of the subjects are from his own social milieu at the time, professional couples resident in the Greater London area. Taken over a period of two years, the black and white portraits all follow the same format – they are shot in domestic interiors, the poses and arrangements reminiscent of traditional family photographs. The subjects are centred in the frame and look directly into the camera. Most of the couples are shown in affectionate poses and embraces within their domestic settings; some included their pets in the picture, others chose to be depicted in front of works of art in their living rooms, surrounded by books, or in their kitchens.The series was accompanied by an artist’s statement, in which Gupta observed that while there had been a shift in gay self-consciousness since the 1970s, the arrival of HIV and Aids had once again turned public opinion against the acceptance of homosexuality, and that its popular and commercial representations were dominated by a stereotype of deviance. In contrast, the couples in Lovers: Ten Years On are shown as often quite ordinary, white middle-class, professional people in long term monogamous relationships. Gupta wrote:

Sunil Gupta, Johnathan & Kim, London  1985, printed 2018

This is one of a group of photographs in Tate’s collection from Sunil Gupta’s Lovers: Ten Years On, a series of over thirty black and white portraits of gay couples taken in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1986 (Tate P82123–P82137 and Ian and Julian P13784). With the exception of Martin & Gary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1984 (Tate P82123), they were all taken in London. Lovers: Ten Years On was made after Gupta’s own ten-year relationship ended and, as a form of social analysis, he decided to document the long-term gay relationships he encountered and the changing sensibilities of the social environment he found himself a part of. Most of the subjects are from his own social milieu at the time, professional couples resident in the Greater London area. Taken over a period of two years, the black and white portraits all follow the same format – they are shot in domestic interiors, the poses and arrangements reminiscent of traditional family photographs. The subjects are centred in the frame and look directly into the camera. Most of the couples are shown in affectionate poses and embraces within their domestic settings; some included their pets in the picture, others chose to be depicted in front of works of art in their living rooms, surrounded by books, or in their kitchens.The series was accompanied by an artist’s statement, in which Gupta observed that while there had been a shift in gay self-consciousness since the 1970s, the arrival of HIV and Aids had once again turned public opinion against the acceptance of homosexuality, and that its popular and commercial representations were dominated by a stereotype of deviance. In contrast, the couples in Lovers: Ten Years On are shown as often quite ordinary, white middle-class, professional people in long term monogamous relationships. Gupta wrote:

Gilbert & George, England  1980

Gilbert and George started their collective practice with performance and went on to make multi-part photographic pieces like this. Here, they seem to show an ambivalent attitude towards national identity as their confrontational poses are juxtaposed with the more playful gargoyle-like crouching figures above a faded Tudor rose in the centre. This work is part of a series of over 100 photo-works collectively titled Modern Fears produced between 1980 and 1981, which focus on the death and decay they saw as permeating the urban environment.

Gallery label, September 2016

Rene Matić, Jenny and Zac Holding Hands  2019, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Rene and Dad I  2019, printed 2021

Derek Jarman, Dead Man’s Eyes  1987

Mona Hatoum, Current Disturbance  1996

Referencing both the human body and rigid systems of abstraction, the installation Current Disturbance 1996 is made from an immense grid of over 200 cages, light bulbs and the amplified sound of electric currents. As the bulbs light up and fade out at irregular intervals, they sporadically illuminate the surrounding gallery. Inside each of the cages rests a single lightbulb, all interconnected via a central convergence. Another single bulb is suspended inside the structure, illuminating the junction box at the centre. The grid of metal cages sets up a contrast between the sense of systematization and the chaos of randomised flashing lights and the mess of wiring covering the floor. The tension arising from this juxtaposition of elements serves to intensify the feeling of suspended energy and instability, inspiring a certain discomfort in the viewer.

Rene Matić, Maggie in Morley’s  2020, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Skegness  2020, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Mia and Cait Snogging I  2020, printed 2021

Sunil Gupta, Bruno & Daniel, London  1984, printed 2018

This is one of a group of photographs in Tate’s collection from Sunil Gupta’s Lovers: Ten Years On, a series of over thirty black and white portraits of gay couples taken in the United Kingdom between 1984 and 1986 (Tate P82123–P82137 and Ian and Julian P13784). With the exception of Martin & Gary, Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1984 (Tate P82123), they were all taken in London. Lovers: Ten Years On was made after Gupta’s own ten-year relationship ended and, as a form of social analysis, he decided to document the long-term gay relationships he encountered and the changing sensibilities of the social environment he found himself a part of. Most of the subjects are from his own social milieu at the time, professional couples resident in the Greater London area. Taken over a period of two years, the black and white portraits all follow the same format – they are shot in domestic interiors, the poses and arrangements reminiscent of traditional family photographs. The subjects are centred in the frame and look directly into the camera. Most of the couples are shown in affectionate poses and embraces within their domestic settings; some included their pets in the picture, others chose to be depicted in front of works of art in their living rooms, surrounded by books, or in their kitchens.The series was accompanied by an artist’s statement, in which Gupta observed that while there had been a shift in gay self-consciousness since the 1970s, the arrival of HIV and Aids had once again turned public opinion against the acceptance of homosexuality, and that its popular and commercial representations were dominated by a stereotype of deviance. In contrast, the couples in Lovers: Ten Years On are shown as often quite ordinary, white middle-class, professional people in long term monogamous relationships. Gupta wrote:

Oscar Murillo, Manifestation  2019–20

Manifestation combines oil paint, oil stick, cotton thread and graphite on a composite of canvas, velvet and linen stitched together by hand to form a single overall composition.

Paul Maheke, Mutual Survival, Lorde’s Manifesto  2015

Mutual Survival, Lorde’s Manifesto 2015 is a two-channel colour video installation presented on two floor-based forty-two-inch LED smart screens displayed leaning against a wall. The work’s title references the American Black feminist writer and activist Audre Lorde (1934–1992) whose words, borrowed and edited together from her essay ‘I am Your Sister’ published in 1985, caption the video intermittently. ‘As a people, we should most certainly work together to end our common oppression,’ the video subtitle begins. ‘We need to join our differences and articulate our particular strengths in the service of our mutual survivals.’ The work lasts seventeen minutes and fifteen seconds and exists in an edition of five. Tate’s copy is number one in the edition.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Razorbill  2020

Razorbill 2020 is a small-scale oil painting of a single female figure with closely cropped hair. Her mouth is open as though caught mid-speech or song. Her upper body is clothed in near black, with a feathered ruffle at the collar. Her right forearm and left elbow rest on a tabletop. The motif of the carnivalesque ruff is one that reappears in Yiadom-Boakye’s work from 2009 onwards, in a number of paintings titled with bird names such as Les Corbeaux 2018, Greenfinch 2012 and Skylark 2010. Razorbill is closely related to these in its tones but is markedly different in its shift towards the looser brushwork and warmer palette that characterises Yiadom-Boakye’s work of 2020.

Partou Zia, 40 Nights and 40 Days  2008

Mohammed Sami, Electric Chair  2020

Electric Chair 2020 is a large painting in acrylic on linen. The subject of the work is an ornate, gilded chair against a dark blue background. The background is non-descript, giving the vacant chair a sense of being suspended in an unknown location and time, although its textured white fabric and carved gilt frame suggest wealth and power. Sami has cropped the image so that the arms and feet of the chair disappear beyond the edges of the painting. This close-up composition draws the viewer into the picture, the paintwork of which appears distressed and faded. A number of the artist’s paintings, most of which are devoid of people, depict chairs and other furnishings.

Rene Matić, VE Day, Skegness III  2020, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Chiddy Doing Rene’s Hair  2019, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Rene in Sheringham  2019, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Mia and Faith at BBQ  2019, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Ione’s Shoes  2019, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Clap for Carers  2020, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Lost Bike  2019, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Rene at New Wave Tattoo  2020, printed 2021

Rene Matić, Rudi at Christmas  2019, printed 2021

Denzil Forrester MBE, Three Wicked Men  1982

Forrester grew up in Grenada before moving to Britain at the age of ten. Three Wicked Men was made while Forrester was a student at the Royal College of Art. The painting captures the dynamic energy of the London reggae and dub nightclub scene of the early 1980s where Forrester sketched people as they danced. He also portrayed racial and social injustices, prompted by the death in police custody of his friend Winston Rose.

Gallery label, July 2017

Rita Donagh, Long Meadow  1982

The conflict in the north of Ireland in the 1970s and 1980s saw violent acts by both Unionists and Republicans perpetrated in mainland Britain and Northern Ireland. One of the key sites during those times was the Maze Prison in County Antrim, formerly known as Long Kesh or ‘Long Meadow’, the title of Donagh’s painting. Paramilitary prisoners were housed in the eight prison ‘H Blocks’, projected by Donagh in perspective onto a square canvas, echoing the square plan of a single cell block. The aerial view and the subtle rendering of the light convey the feeling of an air raid.

Gallery label, September 2016