Plurality Now: New Futures is a group exhibition gathering London-based artists exploring the multifaceted and constantly evolving concept of identity for second to third generation of Black and Asian immigrants in London. The angle is of an identity continuum, an idea that identity is, in the words of Stuart Hall, "never complete, always in process" and in “constant transformation, transcending time and space”. Focusing on cultural identity, we look at each individual’s experience as valuable as the common experience for people of colour in the journey of discovering and understanding one’s identity and heritage in a globalised and immensely multicultural world.
The show explores the sense of displacement and the difficulty of belonging: when one is found in-between spaces, in-between peoples, countries, and cultures. We shed light on this feeling that makes one question their own identity and comprehend the evolution of it into something new and different, blended.
In this manner, we highlight the importance of acknowledging the past while looking forward, and forging the now through the exploration of African and Caribbean folklore stories in Yvadney Davis' work; the representation of feeling other in the work of Xavier Leopold; using particular media to translate the impact of experience and environment on the self in wood painting by Lee-Roy Zozo; the exploration of British Nepalese identity through personal experience in Max Limbu's installation; the blending of culture through the illustration of Chinese and English landscapes and flora in Jade They’s prints and more.
Featured Artists:
Jaffar Aly
Yvadney Davis
Xavier Leopold
Max Limbu
Katasha Rose
Shumaiya Khan
Jade They
Lee-Roy Zozo