Joy Labinjo - What is the effect of colonisation?, 2020 Oil on canvas 150 x 200 cm 59 1/8 x 78 3/4 in
The work of Joy Labinjo (b.1994, Dagenham, United Kington) comprising large-scale figurative paintings often depict intimate and rare scenes of historical and contemporary life – both real and imagined, both domestic and everyday – often based on figures appearing in personal imagery that include her everyday life and people around her, family photographs, found images and archival material. Her work presents fresh and arresting compositions of colour, pattern and motifs – key signatures of Labinjo’s work. Fundamentally, at the heart of Labinjo’s practice is a bold interest in storytelling and ultimately, people’s lives. Earlier in 2020 the artist began a new body of work during the pandemic lockdown in the UK as mass protests around the Black Lives Matter movement surged around the world. Considering these events, the presentation and exhibition furthers her explorations around the role of identity, political voice, power, race, community and family in contemporary experience. Another recent direction in her work tackles history. The artist departs from mainstream histories of Blackness in Britain - uncovering little-known figures and events in Western modernity. These works were based partly on Black Chronicles, an exhibition of photographs of historical black figures put on by Autograph ABP at London’s National Portrait Gallery in 2016, and in part around her own research Exploring multiple modes of representation including abstraction, naturalism, flatness and graphic patterns, Labinjo’s ‘collage aesthetic’ comprises an eclectic visual vocabulary and mixed painterly techniques which echo her experience of multiple identities – growing up Black, British, Nigerian in the 90s and early 00s. Her work is currently on view at Tiwani Contemporary and in the 2020 Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, London until January 2021. She was awarded the Art on The Underground public mural commission for Brixton Underground Station in London that goes on view in late 2021. https://www.artnoir.co/artnoir-12
