Damian Le Bas
b. 1963, United Kingdom
d. 2017
Damian Le Bas (b. 1963, Sheffield : d. 2017, Worthing) established a diverse practice across textile, collage, painting and performance, consistently resisting stereotype and categorisation. After completing an MA at The Royal College of Art, London, he exhibited at venues including Galerie Kai Dikhas, Berlin (2016), Kunstahalle Kallio, Helsinki (2012), the First Roma Pavilion for the Venice Biennale (2007) and the Prague Biennale (2007), and worked closely with Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin on numerous projects including artwork for a musical 'Roma Armee'. He collaborated with Delaine Le Bas to create 'Safe European Home?', a series of installations exhibited across Europe since 2011 that explore identity, migration and borders. Challenging stereotypes and marginalisation, he initiated the Roma Biennale dedicated to art of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and other communities which came to fruition posthumously in Berlin in 2018. In 2022, his work was featured in RomaMoMA at documenta 15, Kassel, Eurasia at Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerp and in 2023 he was a subject of an exhibition The House of Le Bas at Whitechapel Gallery, London, on life and experience of the artist and his partner Delaine Le Bas, and also participated in a major group show Barvalo at MUCEM, Marseille. Currently some works are part of 'Who We Are' at Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn.