What else will be going on here at the Gallery during Heroes & Villains?

Thanks to Arts Council England support we are very pleased to be able to build on our developing workshops and events program by hosting additional activities during ‘Heroes & Villains’ when on the 9th & 10th of October we will welcome some Year 4 pupils from St Jude’s Primary School to take part in some art workshops in the gallery to be lead by the artist Peter Lloyd. After some participatory discussions on the themes in the work on display the children will be asked to make work of their own to go on display in the school during Black History Month.

AUDIENCE PANEL DISCUSSION - Thursday 17th October 6-8pm
An audience will be invited to come along and take part in a panel discussion lead by the artist Peter Lloyd, Race Consultant Don John and artist Amartey Golding where the ideas around ‘Heroes & Villains’ and what inspired Peter Lloyd to make the series along with it’s broader themes will be debated and the floor opened for points and questions. This event is FREE. Doors open at 6 and the discussion at 6.30pm. There will be seating and refreshments.

Panelist - Don John Race & Diversity Consultant
Don John has been working in the field of Race & Diversity for over 40 years. Having spent 10 years in the Treasury in Whitehall he then moved to Southampton to work as a youth and education officer for the Southampton Council for Race Equality working with black and Asian youth with specific reference to the criminal justice system and racism in the education services.  He then moved to the position of the Director of the SCRE. He then secured a position as a the lead Diversity officer for Southampton City Council and was involved in developing the city’s diversity policies  Don was also the founder of Black History Month in Southampton which has now been established as a core event in the city’s calendar and is seen as one of the most progressive in the UK.  He is  also co-author of a book called “The Black History of Southampton 16th Century to 21st Century which is a significant reference book charting the presence of Black people in the city for over 500 years.

 Don is also a filmmaker and has made a number of short documentaries all with a “race” theme.  He has also been involved in the music industry having secured a contract with EMI for a Southampton group of young black people in the 80s called “Ebony Rockers” that included the father of Craig David. As well as being a Director of Voice FM Don  presents a local show on Voice FM “Soul Train” which is a mixture of music and social comment. Don is also on the board of the Nuffield Theatre and has a special interest in cultural diversity in the Arts

Panelist - Amartey Golding Artist
Amartey Golding is a multimedia artist preferring to work with mediums that he is untrained in, the last 3 years seeing Amartey incorporate fashion, Chainmail, Film, and Ballet in to his practice. Often looking at how contradictory ideas coexist within the individual and ideological conflict, Amartey's work is usually self implicating, exploring our individual inability to avoid blame or apology. Born to a Ghanaian father and Scottish mother in 1988, Amartey was raised in London, Cambridge and Ghana by his mother and Jamaican stepfather as a Rastafarian. He started focusing fully on his art at 17 whilst living in the YMCA in Cambridge before completing a Foundation Art degree at Central St Martins. Amartey continued at CSM, completing part of an architecture degree before leaving and moving to Dubai to be the first artist invited on the 18 month residency at Tashkeel residency program. Since being back in Britain, he has had multiple exhibitions in Denmark, Germany and the UK.