Hurvin Anderson

Colourful and jubilant exhibition at Tate Britain of paintings by Hurvin Anderson.

Anderson was the first child in his family to be born in the UK after his family arrived from Jamaica and his work reflects his experience here and travels back to the Caribbean. 

The paintings were large and full of colour starting with images drawing on his childhood in Birmingham. I loved one of a municipal swimming pool. There were some striking images of trees.

He caught the heat and atmosphere of the Caribbean and I loved an abstract looking piece which you realise is a room viewed via the iron grid which is often used in windows instead of glass to let in the air and a similar idea of a tennis court seen through chicken wire.

The final room had new work made for the show including a black and white image of Haile Selassie's arrival in Jamaica in 1966 and two based on a found image of a courting couple on a raft surrounded by a luscious landscape.

Closes 23 August 2026


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