Hurvin Anderson: Mum's

Mum's, 2020

Edition of 40 (plus artist and school proofs)
Signed and numbered on verso by the artist

Materials: Lithograph
Dimensions: 49.5 x 76 cm
Print is unframed

‘I made this print based on wallpapers at home when I was growing up with my mum and dad. The patterns are interesting to me because they are a mix of two very different styles.  One is a flamboyant flock design, which I mixed it with a traditional design by William Morris.  I remember moving house as a child and wallpapering over the existing paper, and the previous embossed design appeared through the new paper. The two designs become an intriguing mixture of traditional, romantic style with another bolder, more dramatic pattern. I enjoy the way the old mixes with the new and the suggestion of texture too. When my mum came to Britain from Jamaica it was very important for her to make a comfortable home. This blended pattern makes me think of her, the aesthetics that can define a community and what happens when two ideas or cultures collide.’ Hurvin Anderson, 2020 

Launched in 2018 by The Hepworth Wakefield, School Prints is an ambitious five-year project to engage every primary school child in Wakefield District with contemporary art. Each year, the participating schools are gifted a set of limited-edition prints by leading contemporary artists for display in school and are supported with an in-depth engagement programme led by local artists to encourage creativity across the curriculum.

Nicola Freeman, Director of Engagement & Learning at The Hepworth Wakefield, said: “The prominence and urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 has brought into sharp focus the lack of diversity across the arts and museum sector. As part of a number of initiatives to address this in all areas of our work at The Hepworth Wakefield, we are reshaping our Continuing Professional Development programmes for teachers and all future work with schools to support the teaching of black histories across the curriculum, starting by making this campaign the focus of School Prints 2021. We are delighted that this project is supported by such fantastic artists who have so generously given their time and creativity to help us in this endeavour.”

Hurvin Anderson said: “Art is a vital part of children’s education, not just in inspiring the next generation of artists but creativity in general. It is also an area of education which has been continually overlooked and devalued by successive governments. It was therefore important to me to support The Hepworth Wakefield School Prints project in which there is an attempt to redress the balance. In particular, in this tumultuous year, drawing attention to the Black Lives Matter movement through creating a visual representation of everyday black experiences has never felt more relevant. I was honoured to be invited.”

School Prints is inspired by a ground-breaking scheme set up in the 1940s where artists, including Henri Matisse, Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso, were commissioned to create prints specifically for schools to allow children to have direct access to high-quality art. Artists who have taken part in The Hepworth Wakefield’s revival of the scheme include Fiona Banner, Sir Peter Blake, Sir Michael Craig-Martin, Martin Creed, Jeremy Deller, Anthea Hamilton, Helen Marten, Haroon Mirza, Laure Prouvost, Linder Sterling, Francis Upritchard, Richard Wentworth and Rose Wylie.

School Prints is supported by Eridge Trust and The Curwen Studios.

Hurvin Anderson (b. 1965, Birmingham; lives and works in London)

Anderson’s vibrant paintings draw on the genres of still life, landscape and portraiture to explore the way community and identity can be represented. Born in Birmingham to Jamaican parents, Anderson’s practice touches upon his Jamaican heritage as well as referencing wider art history to create a unique sense of place and identity. The artist references the creativity and visibility of Blackness within contemporary society, paying homage to his cultural and political forebears while also contributing to discussions about the legacy of painting.

Recent solo exhibitions include They Have a Mind of Their Own, Rat Hole Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2019); Foreign Body, Michael Werner Gallery, New York, USA (2016); Backdrop, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (2016); Dub Versions, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK (2016), with forthcoming show in 2021, Hurvin Anderson: Anywhere but Nowhere, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago IL.