The World Reimagined

Stunning sculpture trail in Trafalgar Square of painted globes by different artists exploring the Slave Trade and its effects.

These globes had been shown around the world in small trails but all 98 were brought together in the square for two days.

There were some wonderful pieces with interesting art but the bulk of the images was the most powerful thing. A lot of artists were there chatting and people were really responding to the work. It was particularly moving to have them outside the National Gallery and they set up interesting dialogues between the architecture around them, each other and the current Forth Plinth sculpture.

I was stunned by GE’s “When Colours Collide” which from a distance looked like it had a mirrored surface but when you got close you realised  it was painted. I loved Joshua Donkor’s “Ancestral Foundations” with beautiful portraits and QR codes to recordings of the sitters.

My favourite was Alison Turner’s “At the Hands of The Enslaved, Our Society Was Built” a wonderful mosaic of an African hand holding up a city scene with buildings erected off the profits of the trade using bits of vintage china.

The show was a powerful and simple statement.

Closes 20 November 2022


 

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