Throughout the past four decades, British artist Lubaina Himid has leaned into big questions. How can the African diaspora become more visible to the world? What are the ongoing effects of colonialism, of slavery? What can be done about hunger, incarceration, war?
For such loaded topics, Himid’s work is often filled with humor, her folksy figuration executed in bright, saturated colors. Her paintings and installations have a way of beckoning the viewer closer. “You’re invited into the conversation,” Himid, 70, tells me.
A leading figure in the British Black Arts Movement in the 1980s and ’90s, Himid has exhibited widely and received many prestigious accolades, including the Turner Prize in 2017 and a CBE appointment in 2018. Most recently, she was awarded the Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize, which led to “Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend,” now on view at the FLAG Art Foundation in New York. (The show was co-organized by The Contemporary Austin, where it debuted earlier this year.)
“Make Do and Mend” consists of two new bodies of work: a suite of what she calls her Strategy Paintings, and a sculptural series of 64 colorful, anthropomorphized planks titled Aunties. The latter are installed along the walls of FLAG, framed by the city’s gleaming architecture and piercing natural light.