Random pic 23 August 2023
Toussaint L'Ouverture, about 1743-1803, by Lubaina Himid at the National Portrait Gallery
https://flic.kr/p/2oLEt77
'Until the lions have their ownhistorians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
Chinua Achebe, 1958
A slave until his thirties, Toussaint L'Ouverture was the most prominent leader of a revolutionary uprising of enslaved people that eventually overthrew French rule on the Caribbean island of St Domingue (Haiti). Becoming Governor-General, L'Ouverture instituted a constitution and abolished slavery in Haiti. In 1804, the Haitian Revolution (1791-1803) established the world's first black republic, sending shockwaves across the Atlantic world and the system of slavery.
In the 1980s, when Britain was experiencing violent race riots, Lubaina Himid resurrected the memory of L'Ouverture as a positive historica figurehead and counterpoint. A collage of inflamatory tabloid headlines using words such as 'Racist, 'Torture' and 'Abuse' contrast with the promise of universal liberty, won by the Haitian Revolution, and the persistent racial inequalities in the modern world.
Coloured paper, newsprint, drawing pins, paint, pastel and charcoal on plywood, 1987. Lent by Middlesbrough Collection at MIMA.
Purchased with assistance from the Art Fund and the Arts Council England/Victoria & Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund. NPGL289
Michael Ixer ● 955d0 Comments