Himid, Lubaina << HIHM ihd, loo BAY nuh >> (1954-…), is a British artist who, in 2017, became the first black woman to win the Turner Prize . The prize, given annually, is the most prestigious award in British art.
Himid is best known for her paintings , installations, and other works that explore colonial history and racism. Her art celebrates black creativity, and comments on slavery and its legacies in the Western world. Himid also explores the neglected cultural contributions of black artists. She has served as curator of many art exhibitions that showcase young black artists. Himid was a leader in the British black arts movement during the 1980’s. This political art movement focused on issues of race and gender in the United Kingdom .
Himid works in a variety of media. Cotton.com (2002) consists of 85 small oil paintings representing cotton fabric in a variety of patterns.The paintings suggest an imagined conversation between British textile workers who refused to process cotton grown in the Confederate States during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and slaves in the United States. In Naming the Money (2004), Himid created dozens of colorful, life-sized, cutout plywood figures of black slaves in European royal courts in the 1700’s. Himid included names and a background story for each to emphasize their individuality. For Swallow Hard: The Lancaster Dinner Service (2007), she painted the faces of black slaves on antique English dinnerware. In a series called Negative Positives (2007-2017), Himid incorporated pages from the British newspaper The Guardian into paintings to illustrate what she sees as racial stereotyping in modern media.
Himid was born in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Her father was African and her mother, English. Himid grew up in the United Kingdom after her father’s death. She received a B.A. degree in theater design at the Wimbledon School of Art in London in 1976 and an M.A. degree in cultural history at the Royal College of Art in London in 1984. Beginning in 1990, Himid taught at the University of Central Lancashire, where she became a professor of contemporary art. Queen Elizabeth II named her a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2010, for her contributions to art. She was elevated to Commander of the British Empire in 2018.
