Credits: The British Pavilion is commissioned by the British Council – please credit the British Council in all editorial features and photographer, Adama Jalloh for image rights.
The British Council is pleased to announce further details of Lubaina Himid’s commission for the British Pavilion, a major solo exhibition of new work titled Predicting History: Testing Translation.
Predicting History: Testing Translation explores the nature of belonging and how to make a home in the new place. The exhibition acts as a guide to navigating life in places outside one's roots, illustrating a journey of learning and an acceptance of what home truly signifies. As the title suggests, nothing in life is easy or perfect: because predicting history is an impossibility, while translation is always an approximation.
A new series of large, multipaneled paintings of dazzling colours, showing surreal and magical settings, exemplifies Himid’s artistic approach. She acts as both writer and performance director, establishing characters, crafting narratives, imagining dialogues and, in collaboration with artist Magda Stawarska, creates a surreal soundscape. The exhibition makes tangible the daily tensions of how to belong.
Embracing the British Pavilion's neo-classical architecture, Himid represents Britain as somewhere welcoming and airy, brimming with potential, albeit with an underlying sense of unease as the sounds, texts, and images subtly introduce tension.
Lubaina Himid CBE RA (b. 1954, Zanzibar) is a world-renowned British artist, known for a pioneering practice which addresses themes of race, history, feminism, cultural memory and identity. She frequently employs storytelling and historical research to challenge dominant Eurocentric narratives and highlight the overlooked contributions of Black figures in Western history.
Lubaina Himid said: “In private we surround ourselves with real and invented memories, artefacts, recipes and music, which reassures us that we belong in the new place and reminds us that despite this, the old place can never be erased entirely.
“The new place sometimes seems welcoming, light, airy and full of possibilities for us and our families but something is wrong, something is awkward. Some things are unresolved, unsettling and remain unsaid.
“This is that place; we cannot leave it. These are the plans; we continue to make them.”
Emma Dexter, Director Visual Arts and the British Council Collection and Commissioner of the British Pavilion, said: “As commissioner of the British Pavilion, the British Council is thrilled to present Lubaina Himid’s Predicting History: Testing Translation. Her vibrant, immersive practice brings together dazzling colour, layered sound and narrative to evoke thoughts about the UK as a space of both possibility and tension. This exhibition explores what it means to belong, challenging dominant histories and representing the UK in a clear, contemporary light - open, complex, and shaped by many voices.”
Ese Onojeruo, Shane Akeroyd Associate Curator of the British Pavilion, said: “As we prepare to open the British Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, it has been an extraordinary privilege to serve as Shane Akeroyd Associate Curator alongside Lubaina Himid. Her practice grounded in care, dialogue and a critical understanding of space has deeply shaped the development of this exhibition, and supporting her vision in Venice has been both an honour and a profound learning experience. I am grateful to the British Council for the opportunity to contribute to this landmark project.”
Ruth Mackenzie, Director of Arts, British Council, said: “The British Pavilion showcases the British Council's values, and our world-class art and architecture exhibitions inspire new ways of seeing the world. Lubaina Himid’s work does this with extraordinary clarity and beauty. She weaves personal stories with global histories, asking questions about home, migration and memory. Predicting History: Testing Translation is a testament to the power of art to help us all understand our shared pasts and joint power.”
For more information visit: venicebiennale.britishcouncil.org
Art Fund is generously supporting the commission, along with a tour to bring the exhibition to venues and audiences across the UK. More details including locations for the UK tour will be announced in the coming months.
The exhibition is supported by Frieze, in its second partnership with the British Council Commission for the British Pavilion, and the Henry Moore Foundation.
Significant support also comes from Jill Hackel and Andrzej Zarzycki, Elia Mourtzanou, and Shane Akeroyd – and the British Council’s Ambassador Circle & Global Circle.
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2023–24, we reached 589 million people.
About Lubaina Himid, RA, CBE
One of the pioneers of the Black British Art Movement, Himid curated several significant exhibitions in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Five Black Women (1983) at the Africa Centre, London and The Thin Black Line (1985) at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, both of which showcased the work of Black female artists in response to their exclusion from mainstream galleries. In 2025, Himid reimagined this iconic exhibition at the ICA, expanding contemporary interpretations and conversations around art making.
Himid has a profound interest in the materiality and performativity of painting, shaped by her degree in Theatre Design obtained from Wimbledon College of Art. This approach can be seen in her cut-outs, figurative paintings created on freestanding shaped board which allow viewers to walk among them. A Fashionable Marriage (1986) is an early installation that critiques race, gender and class, drawing inspiration from William Hogarth’s satirical paintings. Other notable works include Naming the Money (2004), consisting of 100 life-size cut-outs which reimagines the lives of enslaved and forgotten Black figures in European history and Swallow Hard: The Lancaster Dinner Service (2007), a collection of overpainted ceramic pieces which addresses Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Her skillful overpainting allows her to overlay new and old histories on the surfaces of everyday objects and furniture.
Himid frequently employs storytelling and historical research, notably in the Le Rodeur series of paintings (2016–17), named after a 19th-century French slave ship infamous for a horrific event in 1819 in which captured Africans, many of whom had contracted an infectious eye disease during the voyage, were thrown overboard by the crew. The figures Himid paints in various scenarios are not obviously set in one period of time, they remind us of the past and its impact on the present. By re-examining and re-contextualising historical narratives, Himid challenges contemporary audiences to critically engage with collective perceptions of racial and cultural identity, amplifying marginalised voices and overlooked histories.
Himid’s ongoing series Men in Drawers (2017–) sees painted portraits on the interiors of found wooden drawers which transform everyday objects into vessels of historical reflection. Drawers represent concealed spaces within domestic settings; by placing Black figures inside these compartments Himid invites viewers to engage in a process of discovery. Himid created the Aunties (2023) a series of 64 individually painted and collaged narrow planks representing the ‘auntie’ - an interstitial role which honours the women in our lives who expand our understanding of kinship and family.
In the Strategy Paintings (2023) Himid delves into the complexities of problem-solving and decision-making by depicting groups of people gathered around tables discussing an issue, question or problem with symbolic objects such as lemons, teeth and gondolas.
Lubaina Himid CBE RA (b. 1954, Zanzibar) lives and works in Preston, UK and is Emeritus Professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Lancashire. She is the winner of the 2017 Turner Prize, the 2023 Maria Lassnig Prize and the 2024 Suzanne Deal Booth | Flag Art Foundation Prize. She has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally and is represented by Hollybush Gardens, London and Greene Naftali, New York.
Recent solo exhibitions include MUDAM, Luxembourg and Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, both with Magda Stawarska; UCCA, Beijing (all 2025); Make Do and Mend, The Contemporary Austin, Texas and The FLAG Art Foundation, New York; Barricades, Hollybush Gardens, London; Street Sellers, Greene Naftali, New York (all 2024); Plaited Time/Deep Water, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE; What Does Love Sound Like?, Glyndebourne, Lewes (both 2023); So Many Dreams, Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne; Water Has a Perfect Memory, Hollybush Gardens, London; Zanzibar, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (all 2022); Lubaina Himid, Tate Modern, London (2021); Spotlights, Tate Britain, London; The Grab Test, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem; Lubaina Himid, CAPC Bordeaux; Work From Underneath, New Museum, New York (all 2019); Gifts to Kings, MRAC Languedoc Roussillon Midi-Pyrénées, Sérignan; Our Kisses are Petals, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead (all 2018); The Truth Is Never Watertight, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe; Navigation Charts, Spike Island, Bristol; and Invisible Strategies, Modern Art Oxford (all 2017).
Selected recent group exhibitions include:
Connecting Thin Black Lines 1985-2025, ICA, London; Feelings in Common, Pera Museum, Istanbul; Remember Respond Resist, The Box, Plymouth; Changes, CCA Łaźnia, Gdańsk, Poland (all 2025); Friends in Love and War – L'Éloge des meilleur.es ennemi.es, macLYON, Lyon and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, Philadelphia Museum of Art, US, The Box, Plymouth and National Portrait Gallery, London; Entangled Pasts, 1768-now, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Women in Revolt!, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh and Tate Britain, London (all 2024); A Fine Toothed Comb, HOME, Manchester; A Tall Order! Rochdale Art Gallery in the 1980s, Touchstones Rochdale (all 2023); Risquons-Tout, WIELS, Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels (2020).
Her work is held in various museum and public collections including Tate, London; British Council Collection; Arts Council Collection; UK Government Art Collection; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; National Museums Liverpool; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; The Women’s Art Collection, University of Cambridge, Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne; Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; CAPC Musée d'art Contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux; Guggenheim, New York; Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, UAE; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Rhode Island School of Design, Providence and Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE.
About Art Fund
Art Fund is the national charity for museums and galleries. For over 120 years, it has helped institutions across the UK to develop and share their collections, invest in people and expertise, grow their audiences and inspire the next generation.
Art Fund connects museums and people with great art and culture through funding, advocacy and initiatives, because access to art is vital for a healthy society. It champions the sector through the prestigious Art Fund Museum of the Year award - the world’s largest museum prize - and supports museum professionals through dedicated training and grant programmes.
Independent and people-powered, Art Fund is supported by 142,000 members who buy a National Art Pass, as well as generous contributions from individuals, trusts and foundations. The National Art Pass offers free or discounted entry to over 1,000 museums, galleries and historic places in the UK, 50% off major exhibitions, a subscription to Art Quarterly magazine and Art In Your Inbox newsletter.
www.artfund.org
About the Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation was founded by the artist and his family in 1977 to encourage public appreciation of the visual arts. Today it supports innovative sculpture projects, devises an imaginative programme of exhibitions and research worldwide, and preserves the legacy of Moore himself: one of the great sculptors of the twentieth century, who did so much to bring the art form to a wider audience.
A registered charity, it awards grants to arts organisations around the world, with a mission to bring great sculpture to as many people as possible.
henry-moore.org
About Frieze
Frieze is a leading global contemporary art organisation, recognised for its art fairs, publications and digital presence. Founded in 1991 with the launch of frieze magazine, the brand has grown to encompass eight major art fairs worldwide in cities including Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Seoul, and Abu Dhabi. These events attract leading artists, galleries and collectors, fostering innovative dialogues and practices within the art community. Committed to expanding the reach and understanding of contemporary art, Frieze also hosts year-round curated programs and initiatives, including No.9 Cork Street, Frieze House Seoul, and Frieze Connect. Frieze is a MARI company.
For more information, visit frieze.com.
