Colours of Asia

Group show at The Black-Art Gallery. 1992
Date: 1 February, 1992 until 7 March, 1992
Organiser: The Black-Art Gallery

It was not until 1992 that Asian artists were able to exhibit at The Black-Art Gallery. From the start of her time as director (taking over from the ousted Shakka Dedi in the early 1990s), Marlene Smith made it clear that she had little regard for the exclusively African/African-Caribbean remit of her predecessor Dedi. Her first exhibition was an emphatic rebuttal of The Black-Art Gallery’s previous agenda. The exhibition was called Colours of Asia,  1 February - 7 March 1992. It featured work by 11 artists of Asian origin. Khulood Da’ami, Bhajan Hunjan, Ka Che Kwok, Keith Khan, Farzana Khatri, Walid Mustafa, Julie Potratz, Samena Rana, Tehmina Shah, Veena Stephenson and Ali Medhi Zaidi.  Smith also overturned Dedi’s unwritten employment policies and employed people of South Asian origin.