Studies for Impartiality

2019
Uddoh, Rosa-Johan
Rosa-Johan Uddoh is an artist working towards radical self-love, inspired by Black feminist practice and writing. Through performance, ceramics and sound, she explores an infatuation with places, objects or celebrities in British popular culture and the effects of these on self-formation. In her works, Uddoh questions the limits of representation, attempting to develop an understanding of performances of race and Blackness in a global context. Importantly, she questions the role Black people had historically in the construction and deconstruction of national identities, from the broadcasters Moira Stuart and Una Marson to Meghan Markle. Studies for Impartiality, 2019, is an installation and performance dedicated to Moira Stuart, who in 1981 became the first Black, female newsreader to appear on British television. The project is a study of Moira Stuart’s 30-year performance of impartiality for BBC News. Uddoh is particularly interested in how Moira Stuart was presented as trustworthy, authoritative and impartial at a time of heightened racial tension in the UK, first appearing on television just four months after the 1981 Brixton Riots and six months after the New Cross Fire. At first glance the screen prints, all titled Good Evening, appear identical, but on closer inspection they are unique: In all these clips, taken from different broadcasts, Stuart leans to the left, raises one eyebrow, never giving anything away.
  • Artwork Details: 700 x 500cm
  • Edition:
  • Material description: Mixed media
  • Credit line: © the artist. Installation view at Jupiter Woods, London, 2019. Image courtesy of the artist. Photo: Manuela Barczewski
  • Theme:
  • Medium: Installation
  • Accession number: ACC9/2020

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