#TavaresStrachan Reimagined
#Leonardos #LastSupper
The mammoth public
#sculpture envisions a meeting between notable
#BlackActivists,
#Artists &
#Scientists from the past.
#TheRoyalAcademy in
#London has unveiled a monumental new public sculpture by the Bahamian-born interdisciplinary artist Tavares Strachan.
#TheFirstSupper (
#GalaxyBlack) (2023) has been installed in the courtyard as part of “
#EntangledPasts, 1768-now: Art, Colonialism and Change,” a new exhibition that puts the RA’s historic artworks in conversation with contemporary masterpieces to explore and challenge narratives around empire, race, and colonialism. It opens today and runs through
#April28th2024.
Inspired by one of art history’s best known paintings,
#LeonardodaVincis #TheLastSupper (ca. 1495-98), the mammoth bronze sculpture imagines a convivial gathering between notable historical figures from
#Africa and its
#Diaspora who, in reality, never met because they were separated by time and place.
Among these 12 Black scientists, activists, and artists are the abolitionist
#HarrietTubman, the gay rights campaigner
#MarshaPJohnson, the U.S.’s first Black congresswoman
#ShirleyChisholm, the poet
#SirDerekAlton, and the gospel singer
#SisterRosettaTharpe.
Less prominent figures that Strachan has chosen to highlight include the Brazilian resistance fighter
#ZumbiDosPalmares, the nurse
#MarySeacole, the astronaut
#RobertHenryLawrence, and the explorer
#MatthewHenson.
The 13th figure is a self-portrait of
#Strachan himself in the guise of
#Judas. The central figure who takes the place of
#Jesus is
#EmperorHaileSelassie I of
#Ethiopia, who some
#Rastafarians consider to be the returned
#Messiah