Sonia Boyce

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 877 Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

WELCOME BACK TO SEASON 9 of The GWA PODCAST! This week, we interview one of the most influential and groundbreaking artists alive, SONIA BOYCE! Born and raised in London, where she still lives today, Boyce has been taking the art world by storm since the 1980s when she and other trailblazing artists – such as Lubaina Himid and Claudette Johnston – emerged collectively onto the art scene as the Black Arts Movement. Putting images of women and their stories centre stage, they exhibited in shows such as Five Black Women in 1983 at the Africa Centre, Thin Black Line at the ICA in 1985, and The Other Story at the Hayward in 1989. Since then, Boyce's indefatigable practice – spanning drawing, printmaking, photography, installation, video and sound – has constantly evolved, focusing on collaboration, often with an emphasis on improvisation as she works with other artists to create immersive installation environments. Taking on a broader ethos of "collage" and what it means today – both literally and metaphorically – Boyce's practice has brought together a multitude of people, places and perspectives to provoke invaluable conversations about the world we live in today. Often involving sound pieces, when I find myself amongst one of Boyce’s works, it becomes easy to lose oneself inside this very special, unusual but gripping world. Since 2014 Boyce has been a professor of Black Art and Design, at the University of Arts London. In 2016, she was made a Royal Academician, in 2019 received an OBE for her services to art, and of course in 2022 became the winner of the Golden Lion award at the Venice Biennale, which she won for Feeling her Way – an immersive exhibition filled with bejewelled wallpaper and improvisatory song by women musicians – which is currently on view at Turner Contemporary in Margate before travelling to Leeds and later the Yale Centre for British Art. https://turnercontemporary.org/bio/sonia-boyce/ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sonia-boyce-obe-794 https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/mar/19/hylas-nymphs-manchester-art-gallery-sonia-boyce-interview https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/sonia-boyce-ra-magazine-venice-biennale https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/13/arts/design/sonia-boyce-venice-biennale.html https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001f0q7/imagine-2022-sonia-boyce-finding-her-voice Follow us: Katy Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel Research assistant: Viva Ruggi Sound editing by Mikaela Carmichael Artwork by @thisisaliceskinner Music by Ben Wetherfield https://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/ -- THIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY OCULA: https://ocula.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome back to season nine of the Great Woman Artist podcast. I couldn't be
0:05.2	more delighted to kick things off this series with an interview with the legendary Sonia voice,
0:11.0	especially as she features in my book, The Story of Art Without Men, which is out now in the UK and Europe,
0:17.2	and launches in the US on the 2nd of May. Order your copy now via Waterstones if you're in the UK, Barnes & Noble if you're in the
0:24.5	US or head to the great woman artist.com for more information, including dates for upcoming
0:30.0	talks. But before we get into this episode, I am delighted to say that we are supported by
0:35.5	Okila, a premium gallery platform, magazine and advisory
0:39.2	business. Ocula represents the best of contemporary art. Ocula.com provides collectors,
0:46.3	art world professionals and art lovers with online access to over 200 of the world's
0:52.0	best galleries. With the leading galleries represented on Ocula, you can use
0:56.3	the platform to search for artworks by and follow exceptional artists. Ocula's online magazine is
1:02.6	also a great resource providing coverage on the ideas, art and people shaping contemporary
1:08.4	art right now. Ocula has since 2010 published in-depth interviews
1:13.8	with leading art world voices, including many important great women artists, such as today's
1:19.2	guest Sonia Boyce. If after listening to this interview you want to learn more about Sonia
1:23.6	voice's practice or other incredible artists, do visit ocular.com. I hope you enjoy this episode.
1:34.6	Hello everyone and welcome to The Great Women Artist's podcast with me, Katie Hesel.
1:40.8	Some of you might know me from The Great Women Artists, an Instagram account I set up in October 2015, which celebrates female artists on a daily basis, ranging from young graduates to old masters.
1:52.5	Well, in a similar fashion to the Instagram, this podcast is all about celebrating female artists from a variety of backgrounds and histories.
2:01.7	And I am so excited to be interviewing artists on their career or artists writers curators or
2:06.5	general art lovers on the women artist who means most of them what I want this
2:11.4	podcast to do is celebrate female artists in all different capacities so you the
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