Artist residence project will result in new pieces for UK museums and galleries

Eight emerging and mid-career artists are to take up a 15-month paid residencies at UK partner museums, galleries and art collections as part of the 20/20 project.

The national commissioning and network project has been designed to directly invest in the careers of a new generation of ethnically diverse artists.

The artists will receive mentoring and support to develop their artistic practice, and at the end of their residency will produce a commissioned artwork to become a permanent piece in their residency partner’s collection.

20/20 was launched in November 2021 by the University of the Arts London’s Decolonising Arts Institute, working with a network of 20 UK public collections, museum and gallery partners, and with funding from Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants Programme and University of the Arts London. The artists were selected following an open call in May-June this year.

Working across a range of media, forms and materials, the artists’ practices span ballpoint pen portraiture, drawing, printmaking, film and sound installations, sculpture using found elements, metal and vitreous enamels, performance, participatory workshops, poetry, photography, public realm projects, and and sensory ritual events.

University of the Arts London (UAL) said common threads across the artists’ work “relate to de/colonisation and colonial trauma, ideas of appropriation, ownership and hybridity and the representation of exile and migration in the UK.”

Professor susan pui san lok, 20/20 Project Director and Director of the Decolonising Arts Institute said:

“We’re extremely impressed by the rich array of artistic practices and sensibilities represented by the eight amazing artists taking up residencies with 20/20, and incredibly excited to witness and support them on their journeys into UK collections. We look forward to these relationships developing and to the new narratives and insights that emerge from the artists’ deep dives into buried histories and overlooked objects, centering voices and experiences long sidelined or ignored.”

A further 12 artists will be brought on board in 2023, pairing a total of 20 artists with 20 UK collections and resulting in 20 new permanent acquisitions over the life of the project.