Into the Light will see six of Nahem Shoa’s paintings displayed beside famous artworks from the Walker’s permanent collections – including artists such as Joseph Wright of Derby, David Hockney, Lucien Freud and James Tissot.
Shoa’s intervention also celebrates the Walker Art Gallery’s newest acquisition by the artist, The back of Gbenga Ilumoka’s Head. This ground-breaking and provocative painting is part of Shoa’s pioneering body of work around themes of race, identity, diversity and the human condition.
Born in London in 1968, Nahem Shoa’s Eritean, Yemeni, Iraqi, Latvian and Scottish heritage plays a vital part in his work. His work champions the people and communities that have been made to feel invisible or othered throughout British history.