Highly anticipated, BSMT gallery in Dalston is proud to announce ‘Ascension’, a powerful, new group exhibition featuring the works of four Contemporary Black artists: Euan Roberts, Errol Theunissen, Kay Gasei, and Stephen Anthony Davids, co-curated with Stephen Anthony Davids. 

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Ascension is the act of rising up, an upward trajectory. The under-representation or exclusion of people of colour in the art world or gallery setting is changing, subverting the historic dominance of the White male perspective in Western Art. This exhibition brings together four British African-Caribbean artists who, through their work, explore Black identity and the Black experience within the context of living and practising in London/UK.

 

 The premise of the exhibition is to shift once again the elitism of the Art world, to introduce a ‘genre’ response to the notion of ‘Blackness’ or Black centric art which has become governed by curators, collectors and galleries who control the rise and fall of young artists. ‘Ascension’ is not just an exhibition; it's a journey of self-discovery and artistic evolution. These self-taught artists embrace a language akin to early Graffiti, there is a common graphic sensibility across the work fusing Contemporary art with Illustration and folk art. Each artist, through their unique lens, explores what ascension means to them, creating a tapestry of experiences and narratives that resonate with urban life in the UK. The artists, though UK-based, draw inspiration from their African and Caribbean roots, infusing their work with a profound sense of identity and heritage.