Social History / Black History
Peter Brathwaite: Rediscovering Black Portraiture comes to Bristol Museum & Gallery
Artist, writer, speaker and broadcaster Peter Brathwaite is also a multi-award-winning baritone who has performed leading roles for the English National Opera, Opera North, Royal Opera House, Nederlandse Reisopera, Opéra National de Lyon, and Danish National Opera.
During the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Brathwaite made an acclaimed series of reimagined historical depictions of Black subjects from the 11th century through to the present day, many of whose stories have been consigned to the margins of history.
In these masterfully restaged images, he appears as the subject, surrounded by everyday household objects and materials.
is needed now More than ever
The collection was brought together in his book, Rediscovering Black Portraiture, and an exhibition of his work will be coming to the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery on April 14-July 16.
The chosen opening date is a significant one, coinciding with the anniversary of the Barbados insurrection in 1816. Brathwaite travelled to the island for a recent BBC Radio 3 documentary examining the complexity of his heritage: Rebel Sounds: Musical Resistance in Barbados.
Brathwaite’s achievement in image-making has been widely lauded for its visual exploration of how Black portraiture has influenced the notion of identity within the African diaspora over time.
Professor Dorothy Price at Courtauld Institute of Art writes that in his reanimation of so many archive portraits, he “brings lost souls back into view”.
Peter Brathwaite: Rediscovering Black Portraiture is at The Bristol Museum & Art Gallery from April 14-July 16. More information is available at www.bristolmuseums.org.uk. The exhibition is free.
The book, containing over 50 of Brathwaite’s images, is published by Getty Images, and available to buy from the Bristol Museums shop.
A Radio 3 five-part documentary about the project is available from BBC Sounds.
All photos: Peter Brathwaite
Read more: Statue honours Black woman whose contribution changed course of modern medicine
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