100 BLACK WOMEN WHO HAVE MADE A MARK Comes to Leicester Gallery

100 BLACK WOMEN WHO HAVE MADE A MARK is a new art exhibition created and produced by Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage in Leicester that will run at Leicester Gallery from October 1st 2024 to January 4th 2025. 

The Artists: Gayle Ebose, Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Yvadney Davis, Grace Lee, Lauryn Pinard

100 BLACK WOMEN WHO HAVE MADE A MARK will platform and celebrate the hidden histories of Black women – past and present – and their significant contributions to life in Britain and Ireland.  The exhibition, originated and curated by Pawlet Brookes MBE, CEO and Artistic Director of Serendipity, features the portraits of 100 Black women, all pioneers in their areas of expertise including engineering, sport, science, music, medicine, stage and screen, politics, mathematics, academia, social reform, and more.  Many of the women enjoy a high profile in today's world; many achieved greatness in their day against significant odds; many have quietly achieved significant, positive changes in their communities.

An open call for nominations produced an avalanche of names.  Says Serendipity CEO and Artistic Director, Pawlet Brookes MBE, “Nominations were open to the public and we were thrilled by the response.  In selecting the sitters – or subjects of the paintings – we set clear parameters during the selection process.  We wanted to ensure representation across the British Isles, across a range of ages and occupations.  Each woman had to have made a discernible “mark”.  I am grateful that I had the support of Sandra Pollock, the founder of the Women's Awards, during the selection process.

“I am also keen to stress that this is not a definitive list, it is not a top 100, but rather a snapshot of 100 out of many Black women who deserve recognition.”

Featured women include the legendary musician and speaker Pauline Black OBE; internationally acclaimed author Bernadine Evaristo OBE; the late Betty Campbell, Wales' first Black head teacher; Claudia Jones, activist and founder of the Notting Hill Carnival; Mona Hammond OBE, Jamaican-British actress and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company; Irish activist and campaigner Christine Buckley; anti-FGM campaigner in Ireland and Somalia, Irfan Ahmed; solicitor and former President of the Law Society of England and Wales Stephanie Boyce; broadcaster, journalist, activist Brenda Emmanus OBE;
pre-Raphaelite muse Fanny Eaton; Bishop of Dover Rose Hudson MBE; global jazz superstar Dame Cleo Laine DBE; speaker and disability activist Sian Green-Lord; Chancellor of the University of York Heather Melville OBE; architect Selasi Setufe MBE; Olympian javelin gold medallist Tessa Sanderson CBE; playwright Winsome Pinnock FRSL; Scottish suffragette Jessie Soga; engineer Lisa-Dionne Morris; and more. 

Brookes and the selection panel decided from the outset that a likeness of each nominee would be displayed at the Leicester Gallery and that a group of five distinguished Black female artists would be commissioned to create the work.

“We hosted an open call for artists to apply for the commission,” says Pawlet. “The selection panel, which I chaired and which included British photographer/media artist Roshini Kempadoo, shortlisted the final five artists.   Our aim was to present a range of artistic practices and the work of Valerie Asiimwe Amani, Yvadney Davis, Gayle Ebose, Grace Lee and Lauryn Pinard certainly accomplishes this.  These artists brought a wealth of styles and techniques to the project: traditional portraiture, textile art, collage with vintage wallpaper and even dance.  The result is a wonderful, eclectic mix of portraits, each tailored to the personality of the sitter.”

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