The Blk Art Group

The Blk Art Group was an association of young Black artists founded in Wolverhampton, England, in 1979 that raised questions about what Black art is, what its identity might be, and what it could become in the future. The core of the group consisted of art students Eddie Chambers, Keith Piper, Donald Rodney, Marlene Smith, Claudette Johnson, and Wenda Leslie, all of them children of Caribbean migrants. Their art was openly political and confrontational: using collage, photomontage, painting, and text, they explored racism, police violence, the legacies of slavery and colonialism, and the everyday experience of Black youth in Thatcher-era Britain. The group organised exhibitions and conferences, notably the first National Black Art Convention in 1982, which made it a catalyst for the broader British Black Arts Movement. Although the association was short-lived, its members went on to become leading figures in contemporary British art.