XP Black History Month UK 2024

Hew Locke at the British Museum, and Black ballet’s pirouetting pioneers…

The UK’s annual October celebration of Black History always seems to come and go just too fast. So, it’s really great to see the British Museum and the world of Black ballet offering us an extended sojourn in 2024’s theme, Reclaiming Narratives.

The British Museum has been the focus of recent controversy regarding Imperial-era acquisitions, and this year it’s inviting us in to decide for ourselves!

Hew Locke: what have we here? is a collaboration between British-Guyanese artist Hew Locke and the British Museum, and features newly commissioned sculptural works, The Watchers (2024), courtesy of the man himself.

The Watchers is a ‘them watching us, watching them’ collection of carnivalesque figures, all placed at strategic points throughout the exhibition space. And considering that Hew’s work features in the permanent collections of the Tate, the Brooklyn Museum and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, this is a unique chance to see a living legend’s latest creations hot off the press!

Locke’s innovative approach investigates the museum’s ties to British colonialism by using reframing techniques on items like the earliest surviving drawings of Indigenous Americans. This exhibition invites fresh dialogue on history, ownership, and identity, while studying the history of British imperial power.

Sometimes messy, and always complex, the exhibition very much succeeds in uncovering the ways museums are involved in difficult conversations. It’s running between 17 October 2024 and 9 February 2025. Book tickets here!

Our second ‘must-see’ is experiential, and is coming soon to one of those old-fashioned places called a library!

Into the Light: Pioneers of Black British Ballet is a touring exhibit, and promises to bewitch you using a combination of archive photography, film, newspaper articles and posters alongside new video and audio interviews. Featuring the untold stories of Britain’s Black ballet dancers, this immersive experience traces the history of Black British ballet from the 1940s to the present day.

A unique partnership between creative agency Oxygen Arts and Libraries Connected, the exhibition will tour a selection of public libraries until November 2025.

Visitors will see an interview with a member of Europe’s first Black dance company Les Ballets Nègres (formed in 1946), as well as learn about the experiences of the first Black British students at the Royal Ballet’s Upper and Boarding Schools. There are also dance, writing and photography workshops to take part in.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the experiential theme continues with performances of Island Movements, an original Windrush-themed ballet.

But that’s not all. The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House is hosting its own mini exhibition – Pioneers of Black British Ballet – between 30 September and 10 November 2024.

The exhibit is a celebration of Black dancers and their achievements in British ballet. It also includes their visual history at The Royal Ballet School, whilst shining a light on the racism and discrimination that many of them endured. Located in the Linbury Theatre foyer, this is another fascinating unveiling of lost Black narratives.

Can you create experiences and exhibitions to rival these cultural gems?

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