A STUDY IN COLOURISM

A study in Colourism was an ambitious project, as it sought to break free from the usual constraints placed on a traditional art exhibition. It was funded by Arts Council England. It was supported and promoted by the prestigious John Hansard Gallery, but the exhibitions themselves took place across multiple venues in the Southampton area, including three libraries, a theatre, bookshops, the main city hospital and the lobby area in Solent University. This required careful co-ordination and promotion.

The theme of the exhibition was bold, and the logistics of putting it on were ambitious. This was the task as described by Don John, the Founder and Director of Black History Month South:

“Colourism is all about the value we place on somebody if they’re light-skinned or dark-skinned, and over the years this has been the way in which some communities have judged people of different complexions. We used the local photographer Nosa Malcolm to capture images of local people with varying degrees of darkness in their complexions with a view to putting on multiple, eye-catching exhibitions.

In order to achieve maximum exposure we set up various formats of the exhibition at places like local libraries, bookshops, the MAST Mayflower Theatre, Southampton Central Hospital and also in the main hobby area in Solent University, thereby spreading the demographic and age of the audience.

All of these places had great footfall. And people walking in to those location may not have been expecting an exhibition, but obviously once they saw it, they were attracted to it.

The objective was to produce art of our own experience and take it out to different locations to produce the feeling of art to the communities, for the communities, by the communities.” - Don John, Founder & Director of Black History Month South

Special thanks to:

Nosa Malcolm - Photographer

Anthony Smith & Martin Jeyes - Creative Directors

Heidi Taylor - Marketing Consultant

Links:

https://www.donjohn.co.uk

https://nosamalcolm.com