18 June – 01 Sept 2024
Tavares Strachan’s There is a Light Somewhere show at the Hayward finished at the end of September.
It was a stunning show exhibiting the Bahamian’s work from the past two decades. Tavares Strachan, was born in Nassau, Bahamas in 1979. Studied at the College of the Bahamas, Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University. His work, which has included numerous collaborations, fuses art, science and the environment. Heavily politicized content examining ignored and forgotten Black histories, enriched by the emotion, optimism, beauty, composition and aesthetic of the work.
Orthostatic Tolerance, a series describing the training involved as a trainee cosmonaut at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia. He was paying homage to earlier Black pioneer, Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. He also trekked to the North Pole to honour Matthew Henson who accompanied Robert Peary, ‘the discoverer of the pole’.
Distant Relatives, 2020. Part of a series where a traditional African mask is positioned immediately in front of a sculptured plaster bust, including James Baldwin, novelist; and Derek Walcott, poet and dramatist: connecting the subject to their distant past.
First African American astronaut is again celebrated. Robert Henry Lawrence Jr., 2108, neon text and Robert, 2018, an extraordinary, eerie blue and purple neon human circulatory system suspended in space.
Intergalactic Palace, Sonic Encyclopedia, (2024). Thatched Coronation Hut, 2022, based on Ugandan ceremonial architecture. The floor is covered in red iron oxide, a reference to East African mineral mining. A light and sound installation, the DJ booth played notable black voices including Gil Scott Heron and Barack Obama. Adjacent to this piece was, Ruin of a Giant (King Tubby), 2024, a huge patinated bronze bust of King Tubby, dub music pioneer.
United States of Africa, 2022, Oil, enamel and pigment on acrylic.
Wonderful sculptures including, Rosetta with Pot and White Crown Pigeon, 2022: and bronze busts, A Map of the Crown, (Fulani Black), 2024, and (Himba dreaded Knots), 2022. Referencing the Benin bronzes and the significance of hair during the slave trade and generally in terms of ritual and spiritual importance across the African continent.
From Invisibility Paintings, Making of a Brave Man, 2019, one of a series of strong, clear, beautifully defined collages, each piece delivering different perspectives, with strong, political and cultural ideas.
Encyclopedia of Invisibility (2018) This ongoing project was central to the exhibition. His encyclopedia mimics his grandmother’s Encyclopedia Britannica. His volume remained closed and positioned in the centre of the gallery. The surrounding walls are covered with reproduced pages, the multiple texts, forgotten histories, overlaid with numerous graphics and photographs.
The sculpture terrace was flooded, and you were presented with a large-scale sculpture, Black Star, 2024, of the S.S Yarmouth, which was the flagship of the Black Star Line, pointing towards Africa. The view from the terrace or from the interior of the gallery was a staggering panorama positioning the ship as an integral part of the London skyline. Music was coming from the ship. The Black Star Line was intended to be the first solely Black enterprise trading between America, the Caribbean and Africa.
In addition to the exquisite work, there were a couple of beautiful moments as an anonymous singer sang
in response to the images. It was magical to hear that ethereal sound emanate from the brutal Hayward
staircase as she ascended to the upper gallery and as she wandered the galleries.
