Gallery 1957 is proud to announce Godfried Donkor’s participation in ‘The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure,’ a group exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery curated by Ekow Eshun that illuminates the richness and complexity of Black life. The showcase of work includes twenty-two leading African diasporic artists working in the UK and USA.
Donkor’s work in the group exhibition responds to the second core theme - ‘Persistence of History’ through his portrait ‘St Bill Richmond, the black terror’ (2019) which depicts the first American prizefighter and black sports star in Regency England. Richmond became one of the most accomplished and respected boxers of the early nineteenth century and Donkor’s representation of him, haloed in gold leaf, elevates the prizefighter to the status of a saintly icon martyred in the fight for racial equality.
The artist is interested researching and expressing themes of colonialism, slavery, intercontinental trade relationships and the socio-historical relations between Africa, Europe and the Caribbean, particularly the history and origins of boxing in Ghana.
The Time is Always Now is open from 22 February til 19 May 2024.
