Sonia Boyce Biography (PDF)

STAGE 4 Unit focus: Famous Artists Text focus: Biography Sonia Boyce Sonia Boyce is a famous British Afro-Caribbean artist who lives and works in London. She was born in London in 1962 and showed artistic promise early on. Her teacher was so impressed with her doodles in her school books that she wa...

STAGE 4 Unit focus: Famous Artists Text focus: Biography Sonia Boyce Sonia Boyce is a famous British Afro-Caribbean artist who lives and works in London. She was born in London in 1962 and showed artistic promise early on. Her teacher was so impressed with her doodles in her school books that she was encouraged to go to art school. Art hadn’t featured heavily in her working-class background, and when she started art school, Boyce said: “Art was a door that hadn’t been opened to me before”. When Boyce was growing up, racism was a serious issue in Britain. A British black arts movement started to create radical art during the 1980s, and Boyce became an important figure. She started to produce pieces of art that raised awareness of issues to do with race and equality. She was also a fierce advocate for gender equality. Lots of Boyce’s work at this time was centred around herself. She put herself into lots of her artwork, although they weren’t just simple self-portraits. One of her most famous pieces of art is called She Ain’t Holdin’ Them Up, She’s Holdin’ On. In it, Boyce drew herself holding up two different chairs. She said that it represented a strong woman supporting a family and that it was important to hold on to your roots even if you were changing your life. Boyce continued to draw until the 1990s. Then, she switched and began to work with photography and performing arts. Her performances now include photography, film, collages and soundscapes. She also likes to include the audience in her performances. As well as producing her own artwork, Boyce teaches art at the University of the Arts London. She is a Professor of Black Art and has been teaching for over 30 years. In 2016, she became the first-ever black female Royal Academician when she was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts, which has been running since 1768. She was also selected to be the first black woman to represent Britain at the prestigious Venice Biennale in 2022. She went on to win the top Golden Lion prize. Whether working with pastels, photographs or sound, Sonia Boyce’s black heritage has remained a key element of her work. Her early pastel drawings encourage the all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com viewers to think about race and how it was represented in Britain. Her more modern works take a more hands-on approach. In 2018, Manchester Art Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of Boyce’s art. A retrospective exhibition is designed to cover an artist’s entire career rather than just a series of new pieces. As part of the exhibition, the gallery asked Sonia to make some new art with the other pieces in the gallery. This included art from the 18th and 19th centuries. Boyce invited other performance artists to join her in the space to produce a piece of performance art. As part of their production, they decided to remove a controversial piece of art to reflect how museums control what people see. It caused controversy but started a discussion about how museums can be more inclusive. RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. What would you expect from somebody who is described as having “artistic promise”? 2. Find and copy a word that describes the British black arts movement’s work as being different and exciting. 3. Using the context of the text, what do you think “advocate” means? 4. If something is “controversial”, does it mean that everybody likes it, or that there is a split opinion? 5. What are “roots” in the context of this piece and Boyce’s work? R R I S VIPERS QUESTIONS What is the name of one of Boyce’s most famous drawings? For how long has she been teaching, according to the text? Why might it be shocking that Boyce was the first black female Royal Academician? How did she use other people’s art to make her own art in 2018? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com