Sonia Boyce: Artist and academic launches project shedding light on the role of black artists

'Black Artists and Modernism' scheme will involve exhibitions and a possible TV documentary

Professor Sonia Boyce is the joint chair of black art and design at the University of the Arts London (Paul Cochrane)

Looking at the big picture?

Sonia Boyce has launched a major project which is set to rewrite art history, shedding light on the fundamental role black artists played in the conception and development of modern art.

What’s the project?

Professor Boyce is heading up a team of artists and researchers who will spend the next three years compiling the first ever database of works by black artists held in British public collections. Named Black Artists and Modernism, the scheme will involve exhibitions and a possible TV documentary as the team produces the online catalogue of hundreds of works by artists who helped shape the modernism movements of the last century.

Why is her new project so important?

The £700,000 initiative, led by Professor Boyce, intends to combat the way in which criticism of work by black artists frequently focuses on the ethnicity of the artists, deflecting attention away from how the pieces have influenced the history of 20th century art.

It’s about time that was corrected…

“Many artists don’t want to be framed within a discussion about race,” Professor Boyce told i. “If we look back, these are black artists who went to art school and rubbed shoulders with their contemporaries and played their role in shaping the movements of their day. Without black artists there would be no modernism.”

She’s pretty influential herself, isn’t she?

A professor at Middlesex University and the University of the Arts London, she has works displayed in national collections, including the Tate in London, and was awarded an MBE for services to art in 2007.

Is Britain’s cultural elite paying attention?

Institutions including the Tate, the Herbert in Coventry and the Bluecoat in Liverpool, have partnered with the University of the Arts London and Middlesex University to support the scheme. Kenneth Montague, a trustee of the Tate, said: “This project is a long-overdue, absolutely essential resource. For too long the importance of this work to the British arts scene has been overlooked. This initiative is about legacy, setting the record straight.”