With this timely retrospective curated by Rianna Jade Parker, 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning celebrates the lifework of pioneering Jamaican artist, Errol Lloyd and his contributions to the visual and literary culture in Black Britain.
In the largest survey to date, all aspects of his artist career will be presented, including works rarely or never exhibited before. His iconic portraits of seminal figures such as poet James Berry and activist-scholar Walter Rodney and women in his family. Also featured are Lloyd’s bronze busts of friends and colleagues including writers Linton Kwesi Johnson and John La Rose, as well as conceptual works inspired by his travels and lively scenes from Notting Hill Carnival’s definitive years. Lloyd has exhibited his paintings widely and has illustrated and written twenty books for children, many of which will be on display alongside his sketchbooks and personal ephemera.
Errol Lloyd (b. 1943, Jamaica) is an artist, writer, art critic, editor and arts administrator. Since the 1960s he has been based in London, to which he originally travelled to study law. A central figure in the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM), he went on to produce book covers, greetings cards and other materials for London’s Black-owned publishing companies including New Beacon Books, Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications and Allison & Busby. He also served as an editor of the Minorities’ Arts Advisory Service (MAAS) magazine, Artrage.
Now well known as a book illustrator, he was runner-up for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1973 for his work on My Brother Sean by Petronella Breinburg, the first British children’s picture book featuring a Black main character. His young adult novel Many Rivers (1995) was nominated for the Carnegie Medal.
Rianna Jade Parker is a writer, curator and researcher based in South London and Kingston. She is a Contributing Editor of Frieze magazine and co-curated War Inna Babylon: The Community’s Struggle for Truths and Rights at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. Her first book A Brief History of Black British Art was published by Tate in 2021.
198 Railton Road, SE24 0JT from 26 Nov – 4 Feb. Times: Mon – Fri 11am – 5pm | Sat 12-6pm FREE ENTRY
School Group Tours with the Curator | Dec 2022 and Jan 2023
Artist Book launch | Jan 2023
Tickets available HERE
