News

Into the Light: An Intervention by Nahem Shoa 6 Oct 2023--31 Mar 2024
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.

Asking uncomfortable questions related to Transatlantic slavery, Liverpool’s cotton industry and the objectification of women in art, 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 importance of celebrating British multiculturalism. ​
1n April 2022 the amazing Ferens Art Gallery, Hull acquired Shoa's 1989 portait of artist Desmond Haughton.  In the same month the stunning Manchester City Art Gallery have acquired Nahem Shoa's 1991 portrait of Desmond Haughton Red Background 

Face of Britain September 2020 - September 2021

Face of Britain, curated by Nahem Shoa, is an exhibition of portraits by outstanding artists who have painted British individuals from the 17th century to the present day. At its heart is a selection of Shoa’s own striking oil paintings of black and mixed race sitters.
Face of Britain asks a question which is especially pertinent as world events force the widespread reassessment of our history and institutions: What does it mean to be British in 2020? At a time when many of the paintings in our national museums do not represent a non-white presence in Britain stretching back to Roman times, this is a portrait of our country inviting us to consider our diversity.
The exhibition will launch just ahead of Black History Month and run until February 2021. Shoa has chosen work by contemporary black artists like Desmond Haughton, Sonia Boyce and Chris Ofili to be displayed alongside historic portraits by Anthony Van Dyck and John Singer Sargeant and paintings by seminal Modernist figures such as Gwen John, Walter Sickert and Frank Auerbach.
‘The portrait has always been political, I want my portraits to be great works of art but also to work for positive change’. Nahem Shoa
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Facing Yourself Nahem Shoa Southampton City Art Gallery
Living and painting in London 2020 in the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, Nahem Shoa talks about Black Lives Matter and his  own experiences of racism and making  art for over 30 years about race and racism in Britain. Shoa also talks about why he makes art about trees and nature and climate change.
 From August 2020 Nahem Shoa's portrait  of Desiree has gone on in a new display at the famous Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
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Nahem Shoa's Desiree Portrait at The Laing Newcastle 2020
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Desiree at The Laing Newcastle
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Desiree Sanderson
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Artists & Illustrators Magazine September 2019
In 2016 The Herbert Gallery, Coventry City Art Gallery & Museum acquired two of Nahem Shoa's portraits for their permanent collection, Giant Head of Gbenga 2001 and Head of Liz 1997.  Shoa  believes that oil painting portraits of  black Britishers  are rare in museums and art galleries across the UK. His portrait represent the diversity  of Britain in the 21st Century.  Nahem Shoa in his portraiture always worked directly from live models and never from photography.  More News about exhibitions of Nahem Shoa's paintings.

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Nahem Shoa's Portrait of Gbenga Ilumoka 2000 (collection Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry) Exhibition, Face to Face 2017
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Nahem Shoa's Portrait of Gbenga Ilumoka 2000 (collection Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry) Exhibition, Face to Face 2017
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Desmond Haughton by Nahem Shoa acquired by Southampton City Art Gallery
A portrait in oil paint by Nahem Shoa (Drawing Year 2003) has been acquired for the permanent collection of Southampton City Art Gallery, which is renowned for its permanent collection that features around 5,000 artworks that span eight centuries and tell the story of western art from the Renaissance to the present day. The core of the collection is twentieth century and contemporary British art. The portrait is of Nahem’s artist friend Desmond Haughton and was painted from life in 1997. Two further portraits by Nahem have been acquired this year by The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry.
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Nahem Shoa's 200 hour Statue drawing from life 1993. Permanent Collection The Victoria And Albert Museum, London
Congratulations to Nahem Shoa (DY 2004) whose drawing of Samson and the Philistines has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum for their permanent collection.
​A drawing of Samson and the Philistines by Nahem Shoa (Drawing Year 2004) has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum for their permanent collection. The drawing (from 1993) is after a sculpture by Vincenzo Foggini, dated 1749. Nahem spent over a month at the V&A making it, approximately 200 hours of work. The drawing will be stored in a case along with ten other drawings of statues by Turner, Constable, Reynolds, Moore and Frink. ‘I consider it the best drawing of this kind of drawing I have ever made. It is a huge honour’ says the artist. Read the full story here.
More News about Nahem Shoa  
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