A Positive Magazine. For Positive People. By Positive People.
TheOrator.Press Events Page. Events Dear Boy. Events: TV News & Review. ‘Imagine’ Documentary At The ‘Venice Biennale’ As Brixton Artist Sonia Boyce Wins For Britian: ~ November 2022
British-Jamaican Artist ‘Sonia Boyce RA’ Is A Bona Fide Member of The Brixton Community, South West London, A Regular Patron of A Favourite Local Charity Shop, A Long Term Neighbour To A Fellow Artist, And A Known Welcome Face In The Manner.
Lady of The Manner
She Is Also The First Black Woman To Represent England At The Venice Biennale 2022 Grand Art Extravaganza, As Selected By The British Arts Council In 2021. And As of April This Year She Is The First Black Woman To Represent England At The Venice Biennale Grand Art Extravaganza And Win It – Having Been Awarded The Winning Venice Biennale ‘Golden Lion’ By The Art Competition’s International Judging Panel For Her England Pavillion Exhibition Called ‘Finding Her Way’.
Whilst She Reveals In Alan Yentob’s Documentary (Imagine) That She Finds It Somewhat Frustrating, Pressurising And Disappointing To Carry The Factual Reality of Being The First Black Woman To Be, Do or Win, Various Positions, Things or Accolades In The Artisitic Space – The Fact Is She – And As A Result She Has Blazed A Trail For Future Generations To Rightfully Earn Their Place In This Space Should They Wish To Do So And Be Worthy of Following In Her Footsteps. She’s Proven Herself, Broken Down Barriers, And Set An Example (Intentional or Otherwise) For Others To Aspire To And Ideally Surpass – As Far As She’s Concerned.
Although Now A Member of Brixton’s Bold, Beautiful, Arty, Intellectual Set, It Was Regular Visits To The Whitechapel Art Gallery As An Adventurous Seven Year Old Girl, Who Lived Within Walking Distance, Where Her Love of Art Was Born And Grown. So Much So That She Eventually Pursued Artistic Training, Earnt Her Artisitc Qualifications And Later Returned To The Gallery As A Exhibition Guest To Host An Art Show of Own – In Rather Very Hollywood-Esque Movie Story Style!
This Month, In A Captivating Episode of The Alan Yentob Documentary Series ‘Imagine’ The BBC Shadow Boyce On Her Biennale Journey And In Doing So Document Her Lifestory, Introduce Us To Her Family And Shed Glorious Light On How She Got Art’s Biggest Gig – Something She Herself Was Surprised About. Her Husband, Art Supremo David A. Bailey – And Their Two Daughters (Late Teens And Twenty-Something), Are Narrators Throughout And It Is A Joy To Observe The Togetherness, Support And Savviness of This Creative Family.
Ahead of Her Time
Boyce Has Vowed To Stop Creating Self-Portraits. But In The Documentary She Discusses A Number of Previous Powerful Ones. The Two Most Powerful Are Her Punk Self ‘She Ain’t Holding Them Up She’s Holding On (Some English Rose)’ (1986) And Her Vulnerable, Alone, Innocent Self ‘Mr Close Family Friend Comes To Visit Whilst Everyone Is Out’ (1985).
The Extremities of Strength And Weakness Reflected In Each of These Artworks Produced By The Same Person With A Signature Identifiable Commonality of Style, Are So Simple Yet So Powerful And Raw That They Reflect A Moving Authenticity That Is So Enduring One Can’t Help But Be Prepared To Listen As She Presents Her Perspective.
She Is Personable, Persuasive, And Compelling.
The Subsequent Painting (1986) (Depicting Strength & Power) Portrays Her As A Young Rebel Punk Female of The Age (Blue Hair, Hairy Armpits, And Muscular). This Punk Scenario Brings To Mind Legendary Jamaican Music Maestro Don Letts, Friend of The Clash, The Punk Movement And Bob Marley @donletts.
Part of The Story of Her Success Includes Her Eventually Becoming An Art Tutor Herself.
In Venice She Happily Reconnects With One of Her Former Students, Alberta Whittle. Whittle Is Now The Famous Bajan-Scottish Artist Fabulously Representing The Scottish Pavillion As The Same Time Boyce Represents The British One.
Furthermore, Extraordinarily, Her Former Brixton Neighbour, Zineb Sedira, Is Also Representing France At The Same Time Too. (Both Whittle & Sedira Also Feature In The Documentary).
(Above) Sonia Boyce (1985) Mr Close Friend of The Family Visits Whilst Everyone Else Is Out
(Left) sonia boyce (1986) she’s not holding them up she’s holding on(Some English Rose)
The First Painting (1985) (Depicting Danger & Manipulation) Reveals A Scenario of Domestic Child Abuse Which Is One That Occured In Jamaican And Caribbean Families And Others Throughout Britian But Which Went Unspoken. Boyce Is Acknowledged As The First Black Artist To Address The Issue Through Art – Creatively Officially As It Were.
With Regard To The First Scenario TheOrator.Press Has Learnt From A Firsthand Source Who Suffered A Similar Experience As A Young Girl, A Child, From A Similar Time, By A Seperate, Unrelated, So-Called “Friend of The Family” That Such A Situation Was A Sad Reality. Happily She Managed To Escape. But From Our Source We Know The Issue To Be Real With Even Much Worse Outcomes For Some, From What Is A Horrible Experience In And Of Itself For Anyone Who Experiences It.
This Is One Reason Why This Episode of The BBC’s ‘Imagine’ Series Struck A Cord. Boyce Braved A ‘Me Too’ Painting Before ‘The Me Too Movement’ We Might Say. (metoomvmt.org)
The Positivity of Both of These Women Over The Negativity of Their Predators Is A Triumph of Girl Power Strength Over The Pathetic Depraved Cowardice And Weakness of Some Men.
The British Council (Website: britishcouncil.org) Describes Itself As “The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.” King Charles Is Its Patron, As His Mother, The Late Queen, Was Before Him.
The 59th Venice International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia – Runs Over 7 Months From April 23 2022-November 27 2022. Boyce’s Work Includes Paintings, Photos, Films, Sculpture And Installations. Sound Installations Too. Including British Music.
A Total of 80 Nations Are Being Represented – Five of Which Are New To The Event: Cameroon, Namibia, Nepal, Oman And Uganda. Labiennale.Org
As Well As Art, There Is Also The Architecture, Cinema, Dance, Music, And Theatre Biennale (Large Festival) @labiennale
Sounds Democratic
It’s Kind of The Olympics.
It’s The World Coming Together.
Trying To Work Together,
For What They See
As The Vanguard,
Of Its Time.
And
For Sonia To Be A Part of That
Narrative
Is
Really Really Important.
David A. Bailey on The Venice Biennale
Running A Workshop In Liverpool She Discovered That A Love of Black Music Is Not Necessarily Accompanied By Knowledgeable Awareness of Black British Female Artists After She Asked Her Group To Name Some of Them. It Inspired Her.
Sonia’s Ultimately Historical, Award-Winning, Artistic Offering To The Italian Art Exhibition Includes A Sound Installation, Various Components of Which Are Created And Recorded At The Famous Abbey Road Studios With The Help of Belize Born Composer Errollyn Wallen errollynwallen.com, 80s Chart-Topper German Born Tanita Tikaram youtube.com/@tanitatikaramtv, Jazz Legend Daughter Jacqui Dankworth jacquidankworth.com, And New Kid On The Block, Poppy Ajudha facebook.com/poppyajudhamusic
Sonia Loves Music And Is Something of A Horder In This Area And Others Too (Including Hair!). The Aforementioned Charity Shop Is A Source of Lots of Her 80s, 90s, Pop, Punk And Pretty Eclectic Music Which Feature In Her ‘Devotional’ Music Collection Which Forms Part of A Golden Music Sculpture. Shirley Bassey, Sinitta, Annabelle Lwin of Bow Wow Wow, Vanessa May, The Cookie Crew And Mel & Kim, Mica Paris & Michelle Gayle Are Amongst The Wide And Varied Artists Who Feature In It. Her Particular Inspiration Is The Playful And Experimental Element of Dada Performance Art And Jazz Scat (Especially Ella Fitzgerald). Experimental Vocal Artist Elaine Mitchner @ElaineMitchner1 Later Adds To The Mix.
I Guess With Sonia And The Way She Brings Diffferent Kinds of Artists Together,
Kind of With Different Disciplines or Different Approaches,
She Really Wants To Invoke This Kind of Playful Environment
And In Some Weird Way It’s Almost Like Speaking In Tongues.
People Receive That Message or Interpret It or Understand It, In Their Own Way.
And There’s A Strange Wonderful Connection That Comes From That
Joining A Network of Fellow Artists ~ The Black Art Group (Including Students & Professionals Such As Marlene Smith, Eddie Chambers, Donald Rodney, Keith Piper, Claudette Johnson And Lubaina Himid) ~ (Within The Faculty of Art & Design, Wolverhampton University) At The National Convention of Black Artists 1982
First Exhibition (Organised By Lubaina Himid) ~ Black Women ~ The African Centre Art Gallery (Then 38 King Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8JS. Now 66-68Great Suffolk St, London SE1 0BL) ~ 1983
Missionary Position II ~ The Tate Gallery 1985 (Acquired By The Tate 1987 ~ Making Her Work The First To Become Part of The National Art Collection)
The Thin Black Line (The Institute of Contemporary Art) The ICA London 1985
Talking Presence (Collage) Exhibition ~ The Whitechapel Gallery1988 (The First Black Woman To Exhibit There)
Six Acts; The Drag Queen Takeover ~ And ~ The Hylas & The Nymphs (1896) Takedown ~Manchester Art Gallery(2018)
Life Between Islands (Caribbean British Art 1950s – Now)
(Curated By David A. Bailey) Tate Gallery Dec 1st 2021-Apr 3rd ’22
It’s The Oldest
And
Most Prestigious
Showcase
For Contemporary Art
Worldwide
Alan Yentob on The Venice Biennale
@ElaineMitchner1 Talks About Boyce’s Penchant For Noise, Sound, Singers And Soundscapes To Accompany The Pictures, Paintings And Pieces In Her Exhibitions. Such Noise Is Not For Everyone, Especially Those Who Prefer Quiet Reflection or Contemplation. But As Mitchner (Who Is Included In The Exhibition Herself) Explains, Boyce Is About Inclusion And Individual Interpretation. Potentially Therefore There’s Something For Everyone.
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 