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Meet the Artist: Shiraz Bayjoo and Liverpool Black Archive Hub

Conversation between Shiraz Bayjoo, Christine Eyene, and Michelle Peterkin-Walker 

Thursday 15 February 2024, 18.30–20.00

Join us for a panel discussion exploring how plant histories have influenced the design of our cities today

Find out how historical collections are inspiring artists. Meet British-Mauritian artist Shiraz Bayjoo and Liverpool Black Archive Hub founder Michelle Peterkin-Walker to discover more about how these artists are using archive materials.

The conversation will explore the theme of Botanical Histories and Colonial Legacies, drawing from the artists’ research and practices in British botanical gardens: from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to Sefton Park Palm House, and Granby Winter Garden. They’ll address questions related to the displacement of plants from Africa to Britain, the architectural developments these required, and the process of reclaiming traditional knowledge from Africa as a form of collective agency, and a way of addressing today’s environmental issues.

This conversation will be hosted by art historian and Tate Curator, Christine Eyene.

Meet the Artist is a series of in conversation events at Tate Liverpool + RIBA North themed around art, environment and architecture. 

Biographies:

Shiraz Bayjoo

Shiraz Bayjoo is a contemporary multi-disciplinary artist who works with film, painting, photography, performance, and installation. His research-based practice focuses on personal and public archives addressing cultural memory and postcolonial nationhood in a manner that challenges dominant cultural narratives.

Michelle Peterkin-Walker

Michelle Peterkin-Walker is a socially-engaged artist, activist and videographer, born and raised in L8, with over 20 years experiences working in community arts. Her practice combines photography and design to create digital artworks. She takes inspiration from people, places, symbols within African history and culture.

She has been engaged in Social History project exploring Liverpool’s Black Archives since 2018 and created the websites Liverpool Black Archive Hub and Yore Lens on L8. In 2021 she moved into Granby Workshop Studios, joining the collective of Black Creatives in L8 and formed a creative Black artist collective called Aspen Yard Ensemble (AYE). She founded the Liverpool African Diasporic Film Network (LADFN) and set up Sojourner Productions.

Christine Eyene

Christine Eyene is an art historian, critic, and curator. She is a Lecturer in Contemporary Art at Liverpool John Moores University and Research Curator at Tate Liverpool. Her curatorial practice encompasses global contemporary arts, with a particular interest in African and Diaspora arts, feminism, photography, and sound art.

Since 2021, she has been developing independent research on the theme of ‘Botanical Histories and Colonial Legacies’ connecting ancestral and collective knowledge and histories in an evergreen forest bordering the rural town of Lolodorf and the village of Bikoka in the south province of Cameroon. More recently she has been examining links between Liverpool and the central African country through the city’s maritime and trade histories.

Meet the Artist: Shiraz Bayjoo and Liverpool Black Archive Hub

Conversation between Shiraz Bayjoo, Christine Eyene, and Michelle Peterkin-Walker 

Thursday 15 February 2024, 18.30–20.00

Tate Liverpool + RIBA North

Mann Island
Liverpool L3 1BP
England

Pricing

£5 / £3 for Members

Concessions £3

Visit Tate for more information.