Black Lives Matter - New Acquisitions

The City of Leicester Museums Trust has recently generously agreed to fund the purchase of three new artworks for the Leicester Museums & Galleries collection.

The works touch on the theme of assumptions and stereotypes, identity and society and add significantly to the service holdings of works by, and depicting, Black people. They are the first works in the collection that respond to and reflect the Black Lives Matter movement and their purchase demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that the collection is representative of the city’s diverse residents and is responsive to current events.

New Acquisitions Gallery

‘I’m not that boy in the Hood’ by Stephen Anthony Davids (SAD) 2020

‘Through Your Eyes’ by Patricia Vester. Limited edition of 10

'Blackness in the Hood' by Stephen Anthony Davids (SAD). Limited edition of 25

The works were part of Black History Month 2020 exhibition Resilience, (which was a collection of new artworks from artists based in the UK and Europe – a response to the theme of resilience, a word that can define the Black experience as well as the events of 2020).

Initially the works will be shown in a ‘New Acquisitions’ display when the Museums re-open. Moving forward we will be able to use the works in our BLM community engagement work and exhibition we are planning for 2021 around BLM, and an extension of the community-curated BLM library exhibition which was on display last year at Highfields Library.

These exciting works will also be included as part of some interesting work around assumption and imposed identity, especially in our work with younger communities.

They are inspiring additions to the collection that join the three works by Barbara Walker bought last year as part of the Leslie-Farquhar Bequest.  Leicester Museum & Galleries are actively looking to increase representation of Black / female artists, and images of Black people within the collections, particularly in the fine art collection which is historically biased towards white male artists and representative images of white figures.