Said Adrus
Said Adrus (born 1958) is an Ugandan-born British multidisciplinary artist. Adrus has lived in the UK, Switzerland, and other countries in Europe.
Said Adrus
- Name
- Said Adrus
- Born
- 1958
- Birthplace
- Kampala, Uganda
- Education
- Nottingham Trent University
- Occupation
- Artist
- Known for
- Multimedia art, mixed-media art
- Nationality
- Uganda · United Kingdom
- Languages
- English · German · French
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Said Adrus. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q21455836 · wikipedia · Said Adrus
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Said Adrus • Born — 1958 • Birthplace — Kampala, Uganda • Education — Nottingham Trent University • Occupation — Artist • Years Active — 1985–present • Known for — Multimedia art, mixed-media art
Biography
Biography
Adrus was born to Gujarati Muslim parents in 1958 in Kampala, Uganda, in what was at the time known as British East Africa. His family were there through being part of the British colonial project of moving South Asian people to East Africa to build railways. They then moved to Switzerland, where they still live. Adrus then moved to Britain, due to Idi Amin expelling the descendants of Gujarati indentured labourers, many of whom moved to the UK. Adrus has a BA(Hons) degree in Fine Art awarded by the Nottingham Trent Polytechnic. He is a polyglot, speaking German, French, Hindi, Gujarati and English. During the 1980s, his imagery has been described as computer paintings on canvas. He later turned to mixed media and multi-media ways of working, experimenting with the moving image and screen projection. Since 2015, he has been combining his digital media work with various materials that allude to his voyage from African and Asian coastlines to the Western hemisphere, describing migration and emigration in the modern setting. He references Andy Warhol as an influence to his collage work, comparing Warhol's parodying of Western art conventions to his pushing of the boundaries of painting while keeping its elements.
Group exhibitions
Group exhibitions
• 1985: Eastern Views: Works by Young Asian Artists from the Midlands • 1985: Three Asian Artists • 1988: Black Art: Plotting the Course • 1988: Paintings by Said Adrus - Ceramics by Louise Block, Horizon Gallery, London. • 1990: In Focus • 1990: In Sight, in View • 1990: "Let the Canvas Come to Life with Dark Faces" • 1991: History and Identity: Seven Painters • 1992: Black People and the British Flag • 1992: Crossing Black Waters • 1993: Transition of Riches • 2008: Next We Change Earth • 2011: Recreating the Archive
Talks and events
Talks and events
• 2016: Straight Outta Gyri
Reviews, articles, and texts
• 1990: "It Ain't Ethnic", Black Arts in London, no. 128,(1–30 September), 5.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Said Adrus, revision 1314068250 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- KampalaPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
19,456 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Sadhu AliyurArtist
- Şadi ÜçüncüArtist
- Sadik Kwaish AlfrajiArtist
- SahibdinArtist
- Sailor JerryArtist
- Saint George HareArtist
- Saira WasimArtist
- Sait MadenArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Said Adrus?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.