'Oil on Canvas' Exhibition Proposal

‘Oil on Canvas’ is a series of seven digital and physical reconstructions of paintings between 1729 and 1897. These paintings are transcribed into a singular material and then stretched like a canvas in order to erase white narratives from them. The series uses paintings that have some connection to slavery and colonisation, be it a reference in the title such as ‘The Slave Ship’ by J.M.W. Turner or featuring a key member of Western Colonial endeavours such as ‘The Comte de Vaudreuil’. The canvases themselves, while seemingly bare attempt to showcase the connotations held within rich or quite simple textiles and materials. By showcasing the material on its own, it reduces the original paintings to one luxurious piece of silk, or one piece of Tahitian cotton picked by the enslaved. The series discusses themes such as the erasure of black narratives from Euro-centric history, as well as the conceptualisation of material and the value of material and textile in art. The act of stretching a piece of material to form a ‘canvas’ is, in itself, reductive as it presents it as an art piece that holds structure and form and meaning, whereas having it without a frame would not assert so much distinguishable and higher presence. This exhibition is held in the National Gallery to present an immediate juxtaposition between these paintings and those which are referenced. It creates a dialogue with the rest of the institution and discusses the role of the National Gallery in its continual reestablishment of white supremacy and the pride of colonial power in art.