As part of Black History Month, The New Art Gallery Walsall is opening an exhibition Wanting to Say: Finding a Place in the Past, alongside the launch of Midlands Art Papers on 12th October 6-8pm. There will be a short introduction to the exhibition from curators, Dr Greg Salter and Dr Kate Nichols from the Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies at the University of Birmingham. This is a great opportunity to view an exhibition featuring art works by black, LGBTQ, Jewish and Irish artists, to explore the incredible collections at the New Art Gallery Walsall and to hear more about research in the Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies. Wine and refreshments provided.
The exhibition title is taken from Eugene Palmer’s Wanting To Say I (1992). In this work, Palmer (born Jamaica 1955) evokes a sense of black selfhood through the histories of movement, slavery, and migration and the steady gaze of the painting’s female subject. The exhibition explores the ways in which artists marginalised by the art world use story-telling, history, and memory to find a place for themselves in the past, featuring works from the nineteenth-century to the present day.
Wanting to Say: Finding a Place in the Past developed out of new research for Midlands Art Papers, a collaborative online journal. Based at the University of Birmingham, Midlands Art Papers works with 11 partner institutions to research and showcase the outstanding public art collections across the region. You can follow us on twitter for updates @MAP_UoB.