Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 1987
Published by: Cornerhouse, Manchester
Year published: 1987
ISBN: 0 948797 05 3
Unpaginated.

A4 size catalogue produced for the exhibition The Image Employed at the Cornerhouse, Manchester - selected by Keith Piper and Marlene Smith. The exhibition was subtitled the use of narrative in Black art, and brought together a number of practitioners exhibiting in the relatively new Manchester venue, Cornerhouse. Piper and Smith both contributed work to the exhibition. The exhibition ran from 13 June - 19 July 1987 and featured Allan de Souza, Amanda Holiday, Chila Kumari Burman, Claudette Johnson, Donald G Rodney, Eddie Chambers, Jennifer Comrie, Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, [Trevor] Mathison/[Edward] George, Mowbray Odonkor, Simone Alexander, Sonia Boyce, Sutapa Biswas, Tam Joseph, and Zarina Bhimji.

Piper’s Foreword was constructed around a critical reading of the recent history of Black artists’ exhibitions in the United Kingdom. He opened with, “So Black art reaches Cornerhouse, and none could say before time. There can be little excuse for Manchester’s premier contemporary arts space to have taken almost two years to even begin to acknowledge the existence of a vibrant and innovative Black arts movement in this country. Until such an acknowledgement is consolidated within a coherent policy and programme of future events, Cornerhouse’s boast of being a ‘nationally orientated and broadly-based arts centre’ will unfortunately remain hollow rhetoric.”

There then followed, within the catalogue, an introduction by Marlene Smith. The early part of the introduction is punctuated by statements, in bold, such as This exhibition exists as an attempt to move towards the formulation of a language(s) (sic) with which to examine Black art practice by responding to the work of a number of Black artists; It is in recognition of the functions that criticism(s) sensitive to our practice can fulfil that this attempt is made.; ‘The Image Employed’ attempts to locate the practice rather than determine it.

Contents as follows:

Foreword, Keith Piper

Introduction, Marlene Smith

Artists’ pages, with brief biographical details, and artists’ statements and visuals.

Note The artists are alphabetically listed, by first name.

Acknowledgement, Bev Bytheway