Entangled Pasts, 1768-now: Art, Colonialism and Change by Tavares Strachan at The Royal Academy of Arts

BGUK_2829406 - Tavares Strachan's (b. 1979, Nassau, The Bahamas) major new sculpture 'The First Supper', 2021-23. 'The First Supper' is part of the exhibition Entangled Pasts: 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change, opening 3 February 2024. The sculpture in the Royal Academy’s Annenberg Courtyard will be Strachan’s most ambitious and substantial work to date. Meticulously constructed over the course of four years, The First Supper extends the artist’s interest in ideas of visibility and invisibility, materialising his commitment to individuals and communities whose stories have been overlooked or forgotten. 'The First Supper' represents what Strachan describes as a utopian gathering that brings together historically significant figures from the continent of Africa and its diasporas, accompanied by a thylacine or Tasmanian tiger and a portrait of the artist. It includes sculptural portraits of resistance fighter Zumbi Dos Palmares; nurse Mary Seacole; activists Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, and Marsha P. Johnson; explorer Matthew Henson; astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence; politician Shirley Chisholm; Emperor Haile Selassie; musicians Sister Rosetta Tharpe and King Tubby; and poet Sir Derek Alton Walcott. Although some of the figures around the table are well-known, others have been forgotten and are not widely studied. Entangled Pasts: 1768–now: Art, Colonialism and Change will run in the Royal Academy’s Main Galleries from 3 February to 28 April 2024.