An arts exhibition in London for black alumni celebrates outstanding talent and success

Professor Ablade Glover OBE, Ngozi Onwurah, Yinkah Shonibare MBE, Professor Andrew Ramroop OBE and Trevor Robinson CBE, who are undoubtedly among the most accomplished and highly acclaimed alumni from University of the Arts London (UAL), are being honoured in an exhibition of their work called Happening To Be, at Central St Martins College of Art and Design.

Professor Ablade Glover OBE, who is now in his seventies, has had a long and successful career as an international, exhibiting artist and also became Dean of the College of Art at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Technology in his home country of Ghana.

Ngozi Onwurah is a multi-award-winning filmmaker, the first black female in Britain to direct a major film, Welcome to the Terrodome in 1994, best known for her acclaimed 2006 BBC TV drama Shoot the Messenger, which won that year’s Prix Italia as well as two BAFTAs.

Yinkah Shonibare MBE graduated in fine art in 1989. He is famed for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism, most notably Nelson’s Ship in a bottle, his first public commission displayed on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. He was also a Turner Prize nominee in 2004.

Professor Andrew Ramroop OBE, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, is one of Britain’s most highly respected master tailors as managing director of Maurice Sedwell Ltd in Saville Row. He has won a string of awards during his lifetime and is an honorary professor of UAL.

Trevor Robinson CBE, has had a distinguished career in advertising and is best known for the You’ve Been Tangoed soft drinks commercials which ran during the nineties. He later went on to establish his own advertising agency and production company Quiet Storm.

The exhibition’s curator, Kimathi Donkor, also an alumnus of UAL and an established international artist in his own right, promises a “dynamic and thought-provoking display” by the gifted artists. He said: “The show pays homage to the creative audacity of each of these stars, all of whom push the boundaries of imaginative possibility. Each work creates an encounter that is at once visually striking and educationally inspiring.”

Happening To Be, is just one event that forms part of a long-term project called Shades of Noir (www.shadesofnoir.co.uk), founded by Lecturer and creative practitioner Aisha Richards in 2009 to improve outcomes for black and minority ethnic staff within arts higher education.

Shades of Noir is a key strand of the programme being implemented by University of the Arts London’s Task Group on Race, Ethnicity and Undergraduate Degree Classification (REDC) to tackle the issue of differential degree attainment between white home students, black and minority ethnic home students and students who pay fees at the overseas rate.

The University’s unique creative community is made up of six distinctive and distinguished Colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Art.

The outstanding success represented by the exhibitors is a proud moment for UAL, in which the university underlines its commitment to raising the level of degree attainment among black and minority ethnic students.

Mark Crawley, UAL’s Dean of Students and Director of Widening Participation said: “We are proud to have the Shades of Noir project which runs a range of staff, student, curriculum development, and creative and cultural sector industry engagement programmes. UAL believes that greater awareness of the sheer breadth and brilliance of black achievement across the arts will help to raise expectations and broaden horizons.”

Shades of Noir project manager Aisha Richards said: “Just as the artists represented in this show have dedicated their lives to excellence in their work, so UAL, as Europe’s leading arts and design education institution, located in the world’s most ethnically diverse metropolis, is committed to providing higher education that thrives on diversity, equality and ambition.”