The No Colour Bar public programme has as one of its highlights a one-day event to offer an unorthodox voice to express the complexity of being a Black Artist working in Britain.

Featuring celebrated fine visual artists:

Winston Branch
Chila Burman
Paul Dash
Sokari Douglas Camp
Denzil Forrester
George "Fowokan" Kelly

No Colour Bar exhibiting artists will ‘host’ a table where they will share their individual journeys, creative practices, socio-political contents and their take on visual arts personas.  

Putting the Colour Back into Art is a progressive opportunity for artists, established and emerging, to gather and reflect on their journeys in the UK and elsewhere over the past 30-40 years. Themes to include: “Artists of Colour” ; Feminism and Female artists; the influence of the 70s and 80s wider political and radical time frame in coming to be a Black British Artist. The Forum will also consider the Black artist’s presence on the international art scene (e.g. biennales), the opening up of a new expressiveness powered by new art forms e.g. digital multi-media, and will offer narratives around dissecting the discourses of ‘Familiarity and Context’, ‘Journey and Place’.

The main objective for this Artists Forum is to encourage a facilitation for visual artists to convene, share and map their own way forward. Another outcome is that the Forum becomes an informal network to help shape the positioning and support needed for Black British artists and their work.

The Forum is also a platform for developing strategies and ideas and we will be looking at the potential for collaboration and partnerships within the artists’ communities – that will include conversations on the role of businesses, institutions and organisations. Other aspects of The Forum will include, alternative routes to gain for support e.g. awards, membership of organisations, marketing, networking, social media and other models that help to sustain and offer freedom of expression for artists’ practices.