Lubaina Himid

Lubaina Himid is the Turner Prize winning artist, curator and professor championing Black British art. Here's the story of how she got there.

Britain in the 60s… mini skirts, beatlemania, the windrush generation, anti-immigrant racism…

This is the world British-Tanzanian artist Lubaina Himid grew up in. In the 1970s, Lubaina went to university for theatre design. She was inspired by radical theatre from across Europe at the time. But she found the British cultural scene to be lacking in opportunities for Black artists. 

Fancy having got to 1986 and managing to prove that you exist

Le Rodeur: (The Lock), 2016

In the 80s, she went back to university for an MA in cultural history. There, her love of art collided with the work of Black thinkers such as Frantz Fanon and Stuart Hall. As an artist, curator, and now professor – Lubaina showcases the breadth and diversity of Black British art. 

My name is now Turner Prize winning Lubaina Himid.

Le Rodeur: Exchange, 2016

Freedom and Change, 1984


More in this series

Photo of Jean-Michel Basquiat
00:59
video

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat rose from New York's underground graffiti scene to become a legendary neo-expressionist artist. His bold canvases blend text, symbols and social commentary to highlight racial issues and challenge social norms.

Lisa Yuskavage studio portraits
00:53
video

Lisa Yuskavage

These magnificently smutty pin-ups are the work of a legend of contemporary painting, Lisa Yuskavage. Born in 1962 in Philadelphia to an Irish working class family, Lisa turns ‘wrongness’ into salacious works of art that give Classical painting a run for its money.

Black and White portrait of Carmen Herrera
00:59
video

Carmen Herrera

For decades, Cuban painter Carmen Herrera was the unsung hero of Minimalism, but now she holds her rightful place in history.

Marina Abramović
00:53
video

Marina Abramović

The GOAT of performance art didn't get where she is today without risking her life a few times. Born 1946 in Belgrade, Serbia, this trailblazing artist has taken on some of the most extreme feats of endurance and vulnerability – including one of the weirdest break-ups you've ever heard.


Insightful?

Insightful?

Subscribe to the Avant Arte newsletter for the art world in your inbox.


Discover more insights

Dmitri Cherniak walks through LACMA lamps
37:35
video

In conversation: Dmitri Cherniak at LACMA

After the acquisition of Ringers #962 into LACMA's collection, Generative artist Dmitri Cherniak and LACMA Curator Dhyandra Lawson discuss the artistry of systems, curating randomness, and the origins of Ringers.

Gemma Rolls-Bentley poses in front of green cabinet full of various artworks
interview

Gemma Rolls-Bentley's Collection

For Gemma Rolls-Bentley, collecting begins with understanding your own values and what you represent. As a curator and creative consultant, this is how she approaches her own collection as well as those she builds for others – guided by the idea that art should hold real meaning for those who spend time with it. The art that fills her South London home is a reflection of the queer family she is creating with her wife, poet and dementia specialist, Danielle Wilde.

6 min read
Devon Shimoyama in Pittsburg
guide

Devan Shimoyama in Pittsburgh

From the Warhol Museum to Croatian murals, Devan Shimoyama shows us why Pittsburgh deserves a spot on any American art pilgrimage.

4 min read
"If not now then when" projected onto the cliff face below Edinburgh Castle in block capitals
article

Jenny Holzer: HURT EARTH

In a series of monumental light projections, HURT EARTH, art icon Jenny Holzer prompts urgent environmental action. Words from more than 40 global climate activists appear across the UK to coincide with COP26.

3 min read