Cathy's Art Diary

Intriguing exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery using AI to interrogate archive photographs. It takes the archive of Cecil Rhodes, the miner and Imperialist, held at the University of Oxford and shows how applying AI learning to them to create single shot films enhances the original prejudices as AI replies on the data it finds in the original source. Planetary Portals (Casper Laing Ebbensgaard, Kerry Holden, Michael Salu & Kathryn Yusoff) is a research group that delves into imperial archives to produce critical cartographies. It made me think more generally about how AI works and how it can distort information rather than clarifying it. Closed 15 June 2025    

Thoughtful exhibition at the British Museum by contemporary artist Hew Locke examining the museums relationship with Imperial power. It is a complex subject and is presented as a dialogue, with exhibits arranged as if in a storeroom. I feared it would feel preachy but it was more nuanced. From the welcome via video by the artist with a sparkle in his eye I was captivated. There was a mix of original artefacts combined with new pieces commenting on them by Locke all overseen by some of his signature figures looking down from on top of the cabinets. My only negative comment would be that they were hard to see and often they are fabulously detailed. I learnt some stories I didn’t know, had some turned on their heads and other things confirmed. I came away with a lot to think about as well as having seen some amazing things. Closes 9 February 2025 Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard  

Thoughtful exhibition at the Royal Academy addressing the links between the academy and colonialism. I’d worried this would be a woke, one dimensional show but it was backed up with some fascinating research on the founders and history of the academy alongside contemporary works which commented on the issues raised. I love the way the first few rooms were weighted towards the early works and organised by the art genres of the time. There were some iconic pieces. I’ve done a number of online talks that have referenced “Watson and the Shark” by John Singleton Copley so I was very excited to see it in the flesh. From the first, elegantly hung room of portraits I was hooked. As you moved into the later rooms the contemporary art started to take centre stage again with iconic pieces such as Lubiana Himid’s “Naming the Money” and Issac Julien’s wonderful video "Lesson’s of the Hour” on Frederick Douglas. I  came away buzzing with ideas and lots of nuances to think about. Clos...

Useful online lecture from ARTscapades introducing the exhibition of the same title at the Royal Academy. Dorothy Price, one of the curators of the show, which explores the role of the Royal Academy in the Empire and slavery from its foundation to today, guided us through the themes and some of the key works. As this is quite a complex show it was really useful to have had this introduction when I then visited the show a week or so later. Price outlined the curatorial principles of the show and the key questions they were based on. She then took us through room by room. As an art historian, I suspect she had been more involved in the earlier rooms as they took up the majority of the talk, but they also addressed some of the more complex issues and laid the foundation for the more reflective later rooms. The talk was followed by an excellent Q&A session covering how they had worked with contemporary artists in the show, what works they would have liked to have included but co...

Strange exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery looking at stories of colonialism as they pertain to Birmingham. The show was curated by six different people as the commentary said that “there can be no neutral voice” on the subject of colonialism. However I didn’t feel it hung together as a whole. The most disturbing section looked at how eugenics was applied to non-British people and included two beautiful heads by Marguerite Milward who made ideal busts men and women of different races. There was a section on Kenyan independence which pointed out that the case for compensation for wrongful arrests is still going through the British courts. The show also looked at Joseph Chamberlain who was a great advocate of colonialism in the Government but had previously been a much revered mayor of Birmingham. There was also a wall of pictures from the collection which reflected the themes of the show including work by Lubiana Himid and drawings by Epstein. Clo...