Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2018
Published by: Friends of the Huntley Archives at London Metropolitan Archives (FHALMA)
Year published: 2018
Number of pages: 117
ISBN: 978-0-9957300-0-7

No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990 was a sizeable exhibition and archive project, the centrepiece of which was a six-month exhibition that took place at Guildhall Art Gallery, London, 10 July 2015 – 24 January 2016. The visual art component of the exhibition featured work by Frank Bowling, Sonia Boyce, Winston Branch, Chila Kumari Burman, Eddie Chambers, Paul Dash, Sokari Douglas Camp, Uzo Egonu, Denzil Forrester, George Fowokan Kelly, Lubaina Himid, Emmanuel Taiwo Jegede, Claudette Johnson, Tam Joseph, Kofi Kayiga, Errol Lloyd, John Lyons, Ronald Moody, Keith Piper, and Aubrey Williams. The exhibition was broad in its historical scope (1960 – 1990) and range of artists whose work was represented. The exhibition aligned itself to, and had a pronounced interplay with, not only the struggles of immigrant communities in Britain, particularly during the 1960s to 1980s, but also some of the manifestations of these struggles, such as the Black bookshop, and Black British publishing initiatives.

No Colour Bar also commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Huntley Archives at the LMA, managed by the Friends of the Huntley Archives at London Metropolitan Archives (FHALMA). The exhibition took its impetus from the life works of activists and publishers Eric and Jessica Huntley and the Bogle L’Ouverture Press, a publishing house as well as a pioneering Black bookshop and cultural hub that they founded in 1969.

Well over two years after the original exhibition closed, this catalogue, edited by Beverley Mason, FRSA and Margaret Busby OBE, was published. A substantial publication, it featured a number of texts and was extensively illustrated.

Contents as follows:

Inside front cover, colour group portrait of several of the artists, in the company of Eric Huntley.

Several pages of front matter, including original venue details, tour details, information that the book was edited by Beverley Mason and Margaret Busby, With contributions by Margaret Andrews, Hamja Ashan, Eddie Chambers, Makeda Coaston, Paul Goodwin, Hannah Gormley, Errol  Lloyd, Michael McMillan, Katherine Pearce, Colin Prescod, Laea Pysden, Richard Wiltshire, and Michael Yaa Asantewa and that the publication was Published by FHALMA London and designed by Gary Lonergan.

uncredited double page spread of Eddie Chambers’ How Much Longer…?

Page with a quote “From a letter by Andrew Salkey to Jesioca Huntley on 7 July 1978, regarding racist attacks on Black bookshops.”

Further information about No Colour Bar, its funding, and a note of thanks

Page with a large type paragraph as follows: “Guyanese-born political activists Jessica and Eric Huntley founded Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications - named in honour of two heroes of Caribbean resistance - publishing seminal texts by writers from the African diaspora, as well as a wide range of materials including greetings cards and posters reproducing contemporary artworks. The Huntleys’ business and personal archives were the impetus for No Colour Bar, one of the most comprehensive  surveys of Black British art in recent years. The exhibition themes examined the space for Black arts and cultural practices in Britain; struggles against oppression and injustice; movements of resistance to and activism against racism, political violence and inequality; and the embracing of a new internationalism through solidarity, collaboration and creativity”

Contents page

Foreword: Conserving and animating archives for future generations - Margaret Andrews

Essays

No Colour Bar - an Act of Resistance - Colin Prescod

Exhibition of the Year - Hamja Ahsan (sic)

Framing Black Art - Eddie Chambers

Origins

Jessica and Eric Huntley - Margaret Busby

Ode to Queen Mother, Jessica untley - Makeda Coason

Caribbean Artists Movement - Errol Lloyd

Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications - uncredited text

Iconic literature - Michelle Yaa Asantewa

Connecting radical piolitics, art and culture - uncredited text

Leading Archives in the Black Community - uncredited text

Huntley Archives: Timeline

Intersecting Art, Archives and the Spirit of Activism - Makeda Coaston and Katherine Pearce

Curating the Walter Rodney Bookshop installation - Michael McMillan

Artists - each artist given a double page spread, one page with a biographical summary, the facing page with a reproduction of one of the artist’s pieces.

Page of positive comments by visitors to the exhibition

Beond the Gallery: On tour

Digitally Speaking - uncredited text

Talking Heritahe - Beverley Mason

Making Space, Reaching out: Events and public response - uncredited text

Public Programme

Sharing Lessons - Beverley Mason - Extending Britain’s educational legacy for the next generation

The Curators

The Editors

List of Works

Credits

Index

Double page spread of John Lyons’ Jab Jab, 1988, Silkscreen print on paper

On the back cover was an endorsement of No Colour Bar by Professor Paul Goodwin

This particular copy of the catalogue had been signed by a number of people, including Sokari Douglas Camp