We checked out the Degree Show at Camberwell College of Arts, and managed to speak with some of the artists whose work caught our eye – unapologetically re-claiming spaces conventionally used to address Eurocentric themes!

“A Typical Great British Family Portrait”: my work is based on myself. In the beginning I got really angry about the lack of success that came from black students studying in Arts, and in education in general. And I found it really difficult to express how I was feeling in my work. So I started to look at myself, and what made me black, and a black artist. To do that I started to look into my identity, which is why I’ve drawn my family.” Portia Baker, BA Drawing

“A Typical Great British Family Portrait” – Portia Baker

“The Colour Terracotta: It’s about the material and just capturing spaces of domestic spaces. I started of looking at my skin and trying to draw from it, and I started to try to find how I could re-create this in 3-dimensional spaces. So I started to work with materials like plaster and fabric. This is jesmonite. Its like plastic and resene so it’s much harder… I have definitely captured that moment – it’s not going to move, it’s not going to change those elements.” – Dionne Ward

“The Colour Terracotta” – Dionne Ward

“Black Faces in White Spaces: How the project really started was when I was doing my dissertation, and I was looking into issues regarding my blackness. I started to reflect alot on my experiences in 1st year – I felt quite alone. I felt like there was no real space for us to talk when I saw a few students of colour as well. I wanted to find out what the other students of colour were really thinking, then I started to do my interviews, and using drawing as the observational tool” – Rhian Spencer

“Black Faces in White Spaces” – Rhian Spencer

“Tor-Rack”: My design is a based around the torsion spring and how it works is; it’s an inclusively designed coat rack so that it adopts to both children and adults heights. One of the challenges I faced was working with external manufacturers and not necessarily knowing when I’ll receive my work. In the future I’d like to develop this project somewhere cheaper… Perhaps in China or Taiwan…” – Philip Alo

“Tor-Rack” – Philip Alo

“Ashanti Stool”/ “Banksia Jar”: Both of my parents come from Ghana. I didn’t know much about Ghana as I was brought up in London. And I felt like I had lost a part of myself because I never really got to explore what it is to be Ghanaian…. The whole point was to discover myself really – in a nut shell.” – Darren Appiagyei

“Ashanti Stool” – Darren Appiagyei
Other works which caught our attention…
Congrats to all final year students! Camberwell Degree Show ends 25th June.
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