In the early 1980s three exhibitions in London curated by Lubaina Himid – Five Black Women at the Africa Centre (1983), Black Women Time

Now at Battersea Arts Centre (1983-4) and The Thin Black Line at the Institute for Contemporary Arts (1985) – marked the arrival on the British

art scene of a radical generation of young Black and Asian women artists. They challenged their collective invisibility in the art world and

engaged with the social, cultural, political and aesthetic issues of the time.

This display features a selection of key works by some of these artists. At their core is a conceptual reframing of the image of black and Asian

women themselves. Drawing on multiple artistic languages and media, these works repositioned the black female presence from the margins

to the centre of debates about representation and art making.

Most of the works on display have been lent by the Arts Council and from artists’ private collections. They and local museums were more

proactive at the time than national museums such as Tate in collecting these works.

The participants in the three exhibitions were: Brenda Agard, Sutapa Biswas, Sonia Boyce, Chila Burman, Jean Campbell, Jennifer Comrie,

Margaret Cooper, Elizabeth Eugene, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Mumtaz Karimjee, Cherry Lawrence, Leslee Wills, Houria Niati,

Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan, Marlene Smith, Maud Sulter and Andrea Telman.

This display has been devised by artist Lubaina Himid MBE, Professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire, with curator

Paul Goodwin.

On display until 18 March 2012, admission is free.

BP British Art Displays 1500-2011

Artists showing work in Thin Black Line(s) 2011include

Sutapa Biswas, Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan, Maud Sulter