Lubaina Himid

Himid was among the first artists to take part in the Black Art movement in the United Kingdom during the 1980s, and she continues to produce activist art that is exhibited in galleries both in Britain and internationally. She was appointed MBE in June 2010 "for services to Black Women's Art", won the Turner Prize in 2017, and was advanced to CBE in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours "for services to Art". In 2025, Himid was chosen by the British Council to represent the United Kingdom at the 2026 Venice Biennale.

Lubaina Himid studied at Royal College of Art and Wimbledon College of Arts. The recorded working language is English. Residence is recorded at Preston. Employment is recorded with University of Lancashire. Work by Lubaina Himid is recorded in the collections of Tate, Vanderbilt Museum of Art, Van Abbemuseum, Manchester Art Gallery and Bolton Museum. Distinctions recorded are Turner Prize, Member of the Order of the British Empire and honorary degree of the University of Leeds.

Himid was born in Zanzibar Sultanate (then a British protectorate, now part of Tanzania) in 1954 and moved to Britain with her mother, a textile designer, following the death of her father when she was just four months old. She attended Wimbledon College of Arts, where she studied Theatre Design, obtaining her B.A. in 1976. She received her master's degree in Cultural History from the Royal College of Art in London in 1984.

Himid has organized several exhibitions of work by black women artists, including Black Woman Time Now at the Battersea Arts Centre in London (1983) and Five Black Women, an exhibition in 1983 at the Africa Centre, London. Among other exhibitions she has curated are: Into the Open (1984), The Thin Black Line (Institute of Contemporary Arts, 1985), Unrecorded Truths (1986), Out There Fighting (1987), New Robes for MaShulan (1987), and State of the Art: Ideas and Images in the 1980s (1987). Into the Open, presented at Mappin Art Gallery in Sheffield, was widely regarded as the first major exhibit of the new generation of black British artists. Naming the Money (2004), presents an exuberant crowd of 100 enslaved people, portraying their roles they played in the princely courts of Europe: These roles span from dog-trainers, toy makers and mapmakers to dancing masters, musicians and painters. They were bought as the "property" of wealthy Europeans at a time when Africans were regarded as units of currency and black servants were status symbols. Encountering these victims of 18th-century human trafficking, the visitor learns their original identities, as well as those imposed on them.

We Will Be (wood, paint, drawing pins, wool, collage, 1983) Bone in the China: success to the Africa Trade (installation, c. 1985) Revenge: a masque in five tableaux (multipart installation, 1991–92) Zanzibar (series of paintings, 1999) Plan B (series of paintings, 1999–2000) Swallow Hard: the Lancaster Dinner Service (painted ceramics, 2007) Negative Positives (series of graphic works, 2007–) Kangas (associated works on paper etc., various dates) Le Rodeur (series of paintings, 2016) Sometimes you don't know what you're getting until it's too late (series of paintings, 2020) Bittersweet (series of paintings, 2022)

GA Fashionable Marriage, Pentonville Gallery, London (1986) The Ballad of the Wing, Chisenhale Gallery, London (1989), and City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent (1989) Lubaina Himid: Revenge, Rochdale Art Gallery, Rochdale (1992) Plan B and Zanzibar, Tate St. Ives (1999) Inside The Invisible, St. Jørgens Museum, Bergen, Norway (2001) Double Life, Bolton Museum (2001) Naming the Money, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (2004) Swallow, Judges' Lodgings, Lancaster (2006) Swallow Hard, Judges' Lodgings, Lancaster (2007) Talking On Corners Speaking In Tongues, Harris Museum, Preston, Lancashire (2007) Kangas and Other Stories, Peg Alston Gallery, New York City (2008) Jelly Mould Pavilion, Sudley House, Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool (2010) Tailor Striker Singer Dandy, Platt Gallery of Costume, Manchester (2011) Invisible Strategies, Modern Art Oxford (2016–2017) Warp and Weft, Firstsite, Colchester (2017) Our Kisses are Petals, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (2018) Solo show at Tate Modern, London, November (2021–2022)

Himid has held positions on many boards and panels. She is on the board of trustees for the Lowry Arts Centre Manchester. Additionally, she is a board member for Arts Council England Visual Arts, Creative Partnerships East Lancs and Arts Council England North West. Previous board memberships include Matt's Gallery, London (2002–05), and Tate Liverpool Council (2000, 2005). From 1985 until 1987, Himid was on the Greater London Arts Association Visual Arts Panel.

Himid was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the June 2010 Birthday Honours "for services to Black Women's Art". In 2017, Himid became the first black woman to win the Turner Prize. She was the oldest person to be nominated for the prize since the rules changed to allow the nomination of artists over the age of 50. There were, however, older nominees in the 1980s, before the age limit was introduced in 1994. Apollo magazine named Himid as 2017 Artist of the Year. Himid was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2018 "for services to Art". Himid was elected a Royal Academician in 2018. In 2023, Himid was awarded the Maria Lassnig Prize.