‘Why are we not here?’ Exhibition
Co-Commissioned by:
YEAR
2019
Creative Commission: Event Production, Activism, Racial Justice
Tags
Young Creatives
Stacey Olika
Anika Deb
Courtenay Welcome
Donnell Asare
Kiara Corales
Fatima Safana
Nadia Lloyd
Nick Ogri
Leeza Awojobi
Jasmine Thompson
Why Are We Not Here (WAWNH) was a Spike Island / Test Space x Rising Arts Agency exhibition premiering at Spike Island’s Open Studios, 4–12 May 2019. The exhibition featured the work of eight young artists of colour and tackled themes around institutional racism in the arts – curated by Rising artists, Anika Deb and Stacey Olika.
The previous year, The White Pube delivered a hard hitting provocation at the Multiverse Summit to all artist-led spaces within the UK, challenging their complacency and unacknowledged racial bias. Urging artist-led spaces to tackle institutional racism and the lack of presence of people of colour within the arts at all levels, it triggered a direct response from Test Space at Spike Island who, as a first step, commissioned Rising.
What came next was, ‘‘Why Are We Not Here?’ a hard-hitting exhibition that emboldened young people of colour to ask questions about institutional racism in arts institutions.
What began as an urgent challenge turned into an eight-day exhibition – on the biggest week of Spike’s calendar – with three spin-off events and a mobilised network of young creatives ready to create change.
Why are you here?
We had a lively panel discussion on this quesitons, featuring Dr. Shawn Sobers, Stacey Olika, Michele Curtis and Mark Samsworth.
This exhibition was instrumental for bringing new audiences into Spike Island, profiling a group of talented emerging artists and providing them with an opportunity to develop their craft.
“Why Are We Not Here is a question, a challenge, a provocation, a manifesto – but more importantly it’s an answer – we ARE here, always have been and always will be. Just because you don’t see us, don’t mean we don’t exist. For us, this has always been a story about representation and power of it. What would happen if young people and minority communities took up space in institutions like Spike Island – what if we claimed it as our own? It was really important for us that it WAWNH was curated by two young people – showing that young people are skilled leaders and that there work is meaningful and poignant.” – Euella Jackson