Entangled Pasts, 1768–Now
February 3 – April 28, 2024

Main Galleries, Burlington House
Royal Academy of Arts, London

This spring, we bring together over 100 major contemporary and historic works as part of a conversation about art and its role in shaping narratives of empire, enslavement, resistance, abolition and colonialism – and how it may help set a course for the future.

In the setting of our Main Galleries, experience large-scale works including the life-size painted cut-out figures of LUBAINA HIMID’s installation Naming the Money, and Hew Locke’s Armada, a flotilla of ‘votive boats’ recalling different periods and places. Plus, powerful paintings, photographs, sculptures, drawings and prints by El Anatsui, Kerry James Marshall, Kara Walker, Shahzia Sikander, Mohini Chandra and Betye Saar.

Informed by our ongoing research of the RA and its colonial past, this exhibition engages around 50 artists connected to the RA to explore themes of migration, exchange, artistic traditions, identity and belonging.

For more information, please visit the exhibition website.