A major new commission by Alvaro Barrington at Tate Britain
GRACE a major new commission by Alvaro Barrington, brings sound, painting and sculpture to the dramatic architecture of Tate Britain's neo-classical Duveen Galleries. Barrington takes visitors on an intimate journey through time and place, addressing the profound impact that women and their care within Black culture have had on his upbringing and artistic practice. This site-specific installation centres three key figures – his grandmother Frederica, a close friend and sister-figure Samantha and his mother Emelda.
Staged in three acts, the installation brings together the artist's personal history, drawing on his experiences of Caribbean carnival culture and memories of his upbringing in Grenada and New York. He draws from personal memories across time and place, from his grandmother's Caribbean home where a thunderstorm hammers on the corrugated tin roof, to the exhilarating energy of Carnival. Tate Britain's Duveen Galleries are transformed into a space alive with sound, colour and texture.
This is Barrington’s poignant celebration of the people and places that make us feel we belong.
'GRACE is the constant reimagining of Black culture and aspirational attitude under foreign conditions. GRACE here explores how my grandmother, my mother, and my sister in the British Caribbean community showed up gracefully.' - Alvaro Barrington
Listen to an interview with the artist
An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences. Barrington discusses his early interest in the Akira manga, his admiration for artists as diverse as Louise Bourgeois, Jeff Koons and Johannes Vermeer, the significance of Audre Lorde's essay Poetry is Not a Luxury (1985), and why he feels hip-hop legend Tupac is the most significant artist of his lifetime. Listen HERE
Further Information: Alvaro Barrington: Grace | Tate Britain