Doing Lines 1 (Lockdown) Line Journeys (2020)

Claudette Johnson is widely recognised as one of the most accomplished figurative artists in Britain today. Since the 1980s, Claudette Johnson has been a central figure in the UK Black Art Movement and has played an integral role in the Black British Feminist Art Movement. In 2011, Johnson also co-founded the BLK Arts Research Group with artists Marlene Smith and Keith Piper.

Doing Lines 1 (Lockdown) Line Journeys is a self-portrait that was created during the first national lockdown. As Johnson says, ‘the work is part of a series of larger scale “warm-up” drawings, the equivalent of scales practice for a pianist. I make them when there are no sitters as a way of exploring lines, trying to find a new way across a familiar body, working freely without too much reflection but at the same time with deep concentration’.

Johnson’s studies of Black men and women are central to her practice. Often drawn on large sheets of paper, Johnson’s works physically take up space. Their bodies typically begin at the top of the page and end at the bottom, spanning the entire paper. The subjects often stand alone as the sole focus, demanding attention and asserting their visibility with authority or in an understated manner. In this way, Johnson creates a dialogue with traditional notions of portraiture, regarding agency and the portrayal of Black bodies.

The Herbert Art Gallery intends to engage and inspire their audiences by focusing on a commitment to diversifying the narratives within the collections and moving away from centring Western perspectives. The Herbert first exhibited Johnson’s work in 1983 as part of a ground-breaking exhibition by the BLK Art group. Doing Lines 1 (Lockdown) Line Journeys continues these relations by placing a personal work of Johnson’s in the Herbert Art Gallery’s permanent collection.

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