Lubaina Himid

Born in 1954 in Zanzibar, Lubaina Himid lives in Preston, England. 
 
“I think of myself as a painter and cultural activist,” Himid has said of her hybrid practice, which established her as a leading figure of the Black British Art Movement in the 1980s. Since the mid-2010s, she has earned international renown for her vivid portrayals of themes of race, feminism, and cultural memory. Her work frequently employs storytelling and historical research to challenge Eurocentric narratives, exposing the human toll of empire while affirming the centrality of Black subjects. 
 
Himid received Britain’s Turner Prize in 2017 and was the subject of a major survey at London’s Tate Modern in 2021. Recent solo exhibitions include: Predicting History, Testing Translation, British Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2026); Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, with Magda Stawarska (2025); Mudam, Luxembourg, with Magda Stawarska (2025); UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2025); The FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2024); Sharjah Art Foundation, with Magda Stawarska (2023); Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (2022); Tate Britain, London (2019); CAPC–Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux (2019); and New Museum, New York (2019).
Key recent group exhibitions include: Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (2025); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (curator, 2025); National Portrait Gallery, London (2024); Royal Academy, London (2024); Sharjah Biennial 15 (2023); WIELS, Brussels (2020); and the 10th Berlin Biennale (2018). 
 
An Emeritus Professor at the University of Lancashire, Himid was awarded the Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize in 2024 and the Maria Lassnig Prize in 2023. 
She is represented by Hollybush Gardens, London, and Greene Naftali, New York.

Read the interview with Lubaina Himid

 

Cet automne

Musée d'Art Moderne
octoberoct 16 - january – jan 10

Lubaina Himid
A Fashionable Marriage

Visual arts
Free

Alongside the exhibition Attendre ensemble at the Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, Festival d’Automne and Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris are exhibiting A Fashionable Marriage (1986), a key artwork from Himid’s early career within the British Black Arts Movement. Forty years after its creation, this installation remains emblematic of her practice due to the precise interplay between a reinterpretation of art history—in this case, the English satirical tradition in the vein of William Hogarth, whose characters inspired the figures in the work—and a contemporary commentary on the state of British society.

 
Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière
novembernov 6 - december – dec 20

Lubaina Himid avec Magda Stawarska
Attendre ensemble

Visual arts
Free

Marking the return of Festival d’Automne to the Chapelle Saint-Louis de la Salpêtrière, Lubaina Himid, in collaboration with Magda Stawarska, presents a new site-specific installation. Combining paintings, textile, printmaking, and sound, their project connects grand history narratives with individual lives experiences around the universal theme of waiting.