We're celebrating fifty episodes of EMPIRE LINES, with three specials recorded offline and in the museum space – this time in the William Morris Gallery, in London, for their latest exhibition Althea McNish: Colour is Mine. Co-curator Rose Sinclair unwrap McNish's bold textile designs, and Caribbean and British colonial connections, through her infamous Batchelor Girl's room installation
Althea McNish was one of the UK’s most innovative textile artists. Born in Trinidad, she moved to the UK in 1950, and became the first designer of Caribbean descent to achieve international recognition. Her bestselling wallpapers, interior designs, furnishing and fashion fabrics were commissioned by the likes of Liberty, Dior, and Hull Traders. Co-curator Rose Sinclair talks about meeting the artist, who was both a 'Citizen of the World' and part of the Caribbean Artists Movement, and McNish's transformative impact as a Black woman defining British design.
Part of EMPIRE LINES at 50, featuring three exhibitions ahead of their final weekend. See the episode notes for links to the last tickets, and the other episodes on Malangatana Ngwenya and Ingrid Pollard.
PRESENTER: Rose Sinclair, co-curator of Colour is Mine, and Lecturer in Design Education at Goldsmiths University.
ART: Batchelor Girl's Room, Althea McNish/Studio Nyali (1966/2022).
IMAGE: 'Althea McNish: Colour is Mine'.
SOUNDS: The Up Beat.
PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.
Follow EMPIRE LINES at: twitter.com/jelsofron/status/1306563558063271936
Support EMPIRE LINES on Patreon: patreon.com/empirelines
Ingrid Pollard: Carbon Slowly Turning (2022) (EMPIRE LINES x Invasion Ecology)
Twist, LR Vandy (2024) (EMPIRE LINES x October Gallery, Chatham Ropery)
Melted into the Sun, Saodat Ismailova (2024) (EMPIRE LINES x Fondazione In Between Art Film, Venice Biennale)
Decolonised Structures (Queen Victoria), Yinka Shonibare CBE RA (2022-2023) (EMPIRE LINES x The Serpentine Galleries, Venice Biennale)
Dreams Have No Titles, Zineb Sedira (2022-Now) (EMPIRE LINES x Whitechapel Gallery, Goodman Gallery, Venice Biennale)
Giolo’s Lament, Pio Abad (2023) (EMPIRE LINES x Ashmolean Museum)
Camera Obscura, Pia Arke (1990) (EMPIRE LINES x John Hansard Gallery, KW Institute for Contemporary Art)
Medium and Memory, Griselda Pollock (2023) (EMPIRE LINES x HackelBury Fine Art)
Lost Threads, Lubaina Himid (2021, 2023) (EMPIRE LINES x Holburne Museum, British Textile Biennale)
The Black Atlantic, Paul Gilroy (1993-Now) (EMPIRE LINES Live, with Radical Ecology)
Noko Y3 Dzen (There’s Something in the World), Serge Attukwei Clottey (2018-Now) (EMPIRE LINES Live at the Eden Project, Cornwall)
Habitat, Taloi Havini (2017) (EMPIRE LINES x Artes Mundi 10, National Museum of Wales, Chapter)
Freud: El Mago de los Sueños (The Wizard of Dreams), Vidas Ilustres Comic Book (1963)
The Madras College of Arts and Crafts, India (1850-Now) (EMPIRE LINES x The Noble Sage, Brunei Gallery)
Queer Feet, Osman Yousefzada (2023) (EMPIRE LINES x Charleston)
Learning from Artemisia, Uriel Orlow and Orchestre Jeunes Étoiles des Astres (2019-2020) (EMPIRE LINES x Eden Project)
White Zombie, Victor Halperin (1932) (EMPIRE LINES x Visions of Haiti, Barbican Cinema)
The Black Triangle, Armet Francis (1969) (EMPIRE LINES x Autograph)
Whites Can Dance Too, Kalaf Epalanga, translated by Daniel Hahn (2023) (EMPIRE LINES x Kizomba Design Museum, Africa Writes 2023)
Where Worlds Meet, Maha Ahmed (2023) (EMPIRE LINES x Leighton House)
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