As the first solo exhibition of British artist Lubaina Himid in China, this presentation will reflect on the key stages of her artistic career over the past four decades. A prominent figure in the British Black Arts Movement of the 1980s, Himid is renowned for her paintings and installations that challenge dominant historical narratives. This exhibition will feature a selection of significant works from the 1980s to the present, including A Fashionable Marriage, Naming the Money, the "Feast Wagon” and “Plan B” series, among others. These expressive works are evocative, speculative retellings of history, exploring enduring themes central in her practice, such as the history of slavery and Black experiences, gender perspectives, and language, as well as patterns and materiality. Highlighted will be the diversity of Himid’s artistic approach, including works on canvas, cut-outs, found objects, and sound installations. Lubaina Himid is the recipient of the 2023 Maria Lassnig Prize. This exhibition is curated by UCCA Curator Shixuan Luan.

About the Artist

Lubaina Himid CBE RA (b. 1954, Zanzibar; lives and works in Preston, UK) is Emeritus Professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire. She is recipient of numerous awards including the 2017 Turner Prize, the 2023 Maria Lassnig Prize, and the 2024 Suzanne Deal Booth | Flag Art Foundation Prize. Himid has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally.

Himid’s solo exhibitions include: “Barricades” (Hollybush Gardens, London, 2024); “Make Do and Mend” (FLAG Art Foundation, New York/ The Contemporary, Austin, Texas, 2024); “Street Sellers” (Greene Naftali, New York, 2023); “Plaited Time/Deep Water” (Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE, 2023); “What Does Love Sound Like?” (Glyndebourne, Lewes, 2023); “So Many Dreams” (Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, 2022); “Water Has a Perfect Memory” (Hollybush Gardens, London, 2022); “Lubaina Himid” (Tate Modern, London, 2021); “Spotlights” (Tate Britain, London, 2019); “The Grab Test” (Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, 2019); “Lubaina Himid” (CAPC Bordeaux, 2019); “Work From Underneath” (New Museum, New York, 2019); “Gifts to Kings” (MRAC Languedoc Roussillon Midi-Pyrénées, Sérignan, 2018); “Our Kisses are Petals” (BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, 2018); “The Truth Is Never Watertight” (Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, 2017); “Navigation Charts” (Spike Island, Bristol, 2017); and “Invisible Strategies” (Modern Art Oxford, 2017).

Recent group exhibitions include: “The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure” (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia/The Box, Plymouth/National Portrait Gallery, London, 2024); “Entangled Pasts, 1768-now” (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2024); “Women in Revolt!” (National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh/Tate Britain, London, 2024); “A Fine Toothed Comb” (HOME, Manchester, 2023); “A Tall Order! Rochdale Art Gallery in the 1980s” (Touchstones Rochdale, 2023); “Arcadia for All?” (The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds, 2023); “Being and Belonging” (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 2023); “Divided Selves: Legacies, Memories, Belonging” (Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, 2023); “Le Retour” (MRAC Languedoc Roussillon Midi-Pyrénées, Sérignan, 2023); “Thinking Historically in the Present” (Sharjah Biennial 15,2023); and “uMoya: The Sacred Return of Lost Things” (Liverpool Biennial, 2023).

Himid’s work is held in various museum and public collections, including Tate, London; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Sharjah Art Foundation; Kistefos Museum, Norway; Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne; Rennie Collection, Vancouver; MIMA, Middlesbrough; British Council Collection, UK; Arts Council Collection, UK; Government Art Collection, UK; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; National Museums, Liverpool; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; and Rhode Island School of Design, Providence.