Recipient of the prestigious Golden Lion prize for Best National Participation at the 2022 Venice Biennale, acclaimed British artist Sonia Boyce DBE RA brings Feeling Her Way to the AGNS for the last stop on the North American presentation.
Feeling Her Way centers the vocal performances of four female musicians: Jacqui Dankworth, Poppy Ajudha, Sofia Jernberg, and Tanita Tikaram in a playful and thought-provoking visual and auditory experience. Brought together by Boyce at Abbey Road Studios in London and Atlantis Studios in Stockholm, the vocalists were guided by composer Errollyn Wallen through improvisation, imagination, and exploration.
The audience will encounter colour-tinted videos that take centre stage among immersive and tessellating wallpapers created by Boyce, as well as gold 3D geometric sculptures, and a rich display of music memorabilia from the artist’s ongoing collection documenting the transnational contributions made by Black British female musicians.
The Canadian presentation of Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way is initiated and organized by the PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art. The work was originally commissioned by the British Council for the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 2022.
Please note: this exhibition includes several overlapping audio tracks. Accessible resources are available at the welcome desk.
About the Artist
Sonia Boyce DBE RA (London, UK) emerged in the 1980s as a key figure in the Black British Art Movement. Her recent art practice is primarily concerned with the production and reception of unexpected performative gestures, with an underlying interest in how the personal, the aesthetic, and the political intersect. In 2019, the artist received an OBE for services to art in the Queen’s New Year Honours List, as well as an Honorary Doctorate from the Royal College of Art. In 2016, Boyce was elected a Royal Academician, and received a Paul Hamlyn Artist Award. Between 2012 – 2017, Boyce was Professor of Fine Art at Middlesex University and since 2014 she has been a Professor at University of the Arts London, where she holds the inaugural Chair in Black Art & Design. A three year research project into Black Artists and Modernism culminated with the 2018 BBC Four documentary Whoever Heard of a Black Artist?, exploring the contribution of overlooked artists of African and Asian descent to the story of Modern British art.
Her work is held in the collections of Tate, London, UK; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki, Finland; Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK; Arts Council Collection, London, UK; The Government Art Collection, London, UK; British Council Collection, London, UK and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK.
