OXFORD.- Modern Art Oxford is presenting the first major survey exhibition by British artist Lubaina Himid (b. 1954, Zanzibar, Tanzania. Lives and works in Preston, UK). One of the pioneers of the British Black Arts Movement, Himid first came to prominence in the 1980s when she began organising exhibitions of work by her peers, whom she felt were under-represented in the contemporary art scene. Himid’s work challenges the stereotypical depictions of black figures in art history, foregrounding the contribution of the African diaspora to Western culture.

Invisible Strategies brings together a wide range of Himid’s paintings from the 1980s to the present day, as well as sculptures, ceramics and works on paper. The exhibition opens with Himid’s monumental Freedom and Change (1984, pictured above), which appropriates and transforms the female figures from Picasso’s Two Women Running on the Beach (The Race), 1922, into black women, powerfully and humorously subverting one of the most canonical paintings in Western art history.

Through Himid’s diverse approach to painting she complicates preconceptions of the world by introducing historical and contemporary stories of racial bias and acts of violence inflicted upon oppressed communities. Himid’s narratives question received ideas by reasserting the importance of marginalised histories and visual cultures.

Containing many works shown for the first time in decades, alongside pieces never-before seen in a public gallery, this exhibition highlights Himid’s consistently thought-provoking and distinctive visual style. To significantly raise the profile of this important artist, Modern Art Oxford, Spike Island and Nottingham Contemporary are running concurrently presentations of Himid’s work from January 2017.