1980s Britain witnessed the brassy, multi-faceted emergence of a
new generation of young, Black-British artists. Practitioners such
as Sonia Boyce and Keith Piper were exhibited in galleries up and
down the country and reviewed approvingly. But as the 1980s
generation gradually but noticeably fell out of favour, the 1990s
produced an intriguing new type of Black-British artist. Ambitious,
media-savvy, successful artists such as Steve McQueen, Chris Ofili,
and Yinka Shoni-bare made extensive use of the Black image (or, at
least, images of Black peo-ple, and visuals evocative of Africa),
but did so in ways that set them apart from earlier Black artists.
Not only did these artists occupy the curatorial and gallery spaces
nominally reserved for a slightly older generation but, with
aplomb, auda-city, and purpose, they also claimed pre-viously
unimaginable new spaces. Their successes dwarfed those of any
previous Black artists in Britain. Back-to-back Tur-ner Prize
victories, critically acclaimed Fourth Plinth commissions, and no
end of adulatory media attention set them apart. What happened to
Black-British artists during the 1990s is the chronicle around
which "Things Done Change "is built. The extraordinary changes that
the profile of Black-British artists went through are dis-cussed in
a lively, authoritative, and de-tailed narrative. In the evolving
history of Black-British artists, many factors have played their
part. The art world's turning away from work judged to be overly
'political' and 'issue-based'; the ascen-dancy of Blair's New
Labour govern-ment, determined to locate a bright and friendly type
of 'diversity' at the heart of its identity; the emergence of the
preco-cious and hegemonic yBa grouping; gov-ernmental shenanigans;
the tragic murder of Black Londoner Stephen Lawrence - all these
factors and many others underpin the telling of this fascinating
story. "Things Done Change "represents a timely and important
contribution to the building of more credible, inclusive, and
nuanced art histories. The book avoids treating and discussing
Black artists as practitioners wholly separate and distinct from
their counterparts. Nor does the book seek to present a rosy and
varnished account of Black-British artists. With its multiple
references to Black music, in its title, several of its chapter
headings, and citations evoked by artists themselves, "Things Done
Change "makes a singular and compelling narrative that reflects, as
well as draws on, wider cultural mani-festations and events in the
socio-political arena.
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