Over the course of her four-decade career, Lubaina Himid has explored and expanded the possibilities of painting and storytelling to depict contemporary everyday life and to fill gaps in art history through the depiction and centering of Black figures and experiences. Self-described as a painter, cultural activist, witness, storyteller, and historian, Himid was an especially influential figure in the British Black Arts Movement in the 1980s and has been a champion of women artists in her role as a teacher, curator, critic, and organizer.
Published on the occasion of Himid’s project for the 2024 Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize, Make Do and Mend provides readers with a rare behind-the-scenes look into the making of two bodies of work: a suite of ten Strategy Paintings depicting Black men and women seated around tables invested in problem-solving, and 64 sculptural plank paintings, the Aunties, which formally evoke East African funerary objects and postminimalism, as they pay tribute to relationships between women.
The book features contributions by Lubaina Himid, Dorothy Price (Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art and Critical Race Art History, The Courtauld, London), Zoé Whitley (Director, Chisenhale Gallery, London), Alex Klein (Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Contemporary Austin, Texas), Julie Le (Assistant Curator, The Contemporary Austin), Jonathan Rider (Director, The FLAG Art Foundation), and Caroline Cassidy (Director of Exhibitions, The FLAG Art Foundation).
