Anita Kaushik (b. 1967, England) 'Made in Gt Britain' mixed media, 1990, 74 x 67 cm

'Some Kind of Black', part of 'Duchamp's Suitcase', perspectives by five European curators.

'Some Kind of Black' broadly represent the strands of my curatorial practice over the course of the late 1980s and 1990s. There is an approximate chronology to the works chosen, insofar as one of the earliest pieces dates from 'D-Max', a photographic exhibition that I co-ordinated in 1987. Another piece of work comes from an early series 'Fragments' by Vong Phaophanit, which I exhibited in 1988. Each piece of work is accompanied by a caption detailing my relationship to the piece - sometimes these references are curatorial, other times, the references are critical Other pieces, such as those by Alan Zion and Woody Joseph, represent research interests I have developed in Jamaica. Work by Mildred Howard and Michael Platt represents artists from the United States with whom I have also worked.

But the selection is meant to do more than simply reflect my history as a curator. My intention is to animate discussions as to the politics of visual representation, as employed by a range of 'Black' artists. Comparing and contrasting each work, we can see that and we can see how some artists in England, the United States and Jamaica have contributed to debates about history, identity and nationality over the past decade and a half. The exhibited work comes right up to the present time, with Calvin Forbes' 'what color black do you prefer'. The work cautions against the impulse to flatten and homogenise Black people, whilst celebrating unity through diversity. Whilst resolutely avoiding the burden of representation, each of these works has been executed through the prism of some kind of black.

The exhibited artists are Faisal Abdu'Allah, Godfrey Brown, Vanley Burke, Glen Ettienne, Calvin Forbes, Colin Henry, Mildred Howard, Richard Hylton, Alan 'Zion' Johnson, Tam Joseph, William 'Woody' Joseph, Anita Kaushik, Gloria Ojulari, Eugene Palmer, Vong Phaophanit, Michael Platt, Donald Rodney and Danijah Tafari.
Some Kind of Black', part of 'Duchamp's Suitcase', perspectives by five European curators, Arnolfini, Bristol, 13 August - 24 September 2000.