Alanis Forde & others @ Gillian Jason Gallery

Each of the five artists featuring in the show, create figurative works that are unbound by prejudice.  They subvert and rethink how Black women and figures have been regarded by Western naturalistic classical and modernist traditions within painting.

Traditionally depicted as ‘at service’, mocked, or absent; black figures in art are often seen through a racialised lens – as homogenous and primitive.  The works chosen for At Peace communicate a sense of independence and palpable presence.   They embody ‘exhibition as research’, driven by a holistic approach to curating by establishing a space of healing, in which artists and artworks exercise collective agency.

All five artists share similar belief systems as well as an understanding of the pressure within the art industry to conform to expectations of what Black artists ‘should be creating.’ At Peace therefore, seeks to act as a space in which each artist presents, talks about and references their work in their own way and on their own terms.