Professor Lubaina Himid elected Royal Academician in painting by Royal Academy of Arts
Turner Prize winner and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Professor Lubaina Himid CBE has been recognised with a prestigious title by the Royal Academy of Arts.
The decorated Professor of Contemporary Art at UCLan, who was the recipient of the 2017 Turner Prize, has been elected as a Royal Academician in the category of painting.
Lubaina, who was awarded a CBE in June 2018 for her services to art, said: “Alongside winning the Turner Prize being elected a member of the Royal Academy is a great honour in the world of the visual arts in Britain, I hope I can make a difference.”
The British contemporary artist’s paintings and installations explore ideas around black British representation and identity. She was one of the pioneers of the Black Art movement in the 1980s which offered a forum for black artists exploring the social and political issues surrounding black history and identity.
Though she is known as a painter, her work also engages with museum collections in which she creatively interrogates the history and representation of the African diaspora and looks at the role of museums within cultural histories.
Alongside her artistic practice, Lubaina has curated exhibitions to showcase underrepresented Black artists. As an artist, advocate and curator she has facilitated and celebrated the role of Black artists and their contributions to contemporary society.
"Alongside winning the Turner Prize being elected a member of the Royal Academy is a great honour in the world of the visual arts in Britain, I hope I can make a difference."
Recent solo exhibitions include Gifts to Kings, MRAC Sérignan, France, (2018); Navigation Charts, Spike Island, Bristol and Invisible Strategies, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (both 2017); The Truth Is Never Watertight, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2017.
Recent group exhibitions include We Don’t Need Another Hero, Berlin Biennale (2018); The Place is Here, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham (2017); The 1980s Today’s Beginnings?, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands (2016); Keywords, Tate Liverpool (2014); and Burning Down the House, Gwangju Biennale, South Korea (2014).
This year Lubaina, who was awarded an MBE in June 2010 for services to black women's art, will also have exhibitions at the Tate Britain, in London; The New Museum New York; Museum Frans Hals, in The Netherlands; and the Sharjah Biennale, in United Arab Emirates. In February, Hollybush Gardens Gallery London will launch the monograph Lubaina Himid: Workshop Manual, published by Koenig Books.