Organised by National Gallery
Hear from this year’s Fourth Plinth commission artist, Samson Kambalu, after its September unveiling
About
'Antelope', the new large-scale sculpture by artist Samson Kambalu is unveiled as the 14th Fourth Plinth commission in Trafalgar Square on 14 September 2022. This special Friday Lates event sees Kambalu join us to discuss the commission, his work more broadly, and what it means to be part of the most popular public art project in the UK.
The sculpture restages a photograph of Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley. Taken in 1914, Chilembwe is wearing a hat, defying the colonial rule that forbade Africans from wearing hats in front of white people. Chilembwe was killed in an uprising and his church destroyed by the colonial police.
In Kambalu’s work, the artist elevates Chilembwe and his story, revealing the hidden narratives of underrepresented peoples in the history of the British Empire in Africa, and beyond. He will be joined in conversation by Osei Bonsu, Tate Modern's Curator of International Art.
This event is organised as part of The Association for Art History's 'Art History Festival'.
Samson Kambalu
Samson Kambalu was born in 1975 in Malawi. He lives and works in Oxford where he is an Associate Professor of Fine Art and a lifelong fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford University. Kambalu is an artist and writer working in a variety of media, including site-specific installation, video, performance and literature. His work is autobiographical and approaches art as an arena for critical thought and sovereign activities. Kambalu has won research fellowships with Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution. A paperback version of his memoir ‘The Jive Talker: Or, How to get a British Passport’ is released by September Publishing on 25 August.
The Fourth Plinth is funded by the Mayor of London with support from Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies.