The Institute of Contemporary Arts presents Connecting Thin Black Lines: 1985–2025, a major exhibition marking forty years since the groundbreaking 1985 ICA show The Thin Black Line. Curated by Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid, this anniversary exhibition reunites the eleven original artists whose practices helped reshape British art history.
For the first time since 1985, works by Brenda Agard, Sutapa Biswas, Sonia Boyce, Chila Kumari Burman, Jennifer Comrie, Claudette Johnson, Ingrid Pollard, Veronica Ryan, Marlene Smith, Maud Sulter, and Lubaina Himid herself will be exhibited together — showcasing four decades of pioneering work by Black and Asian women artists in Britain.
The exhibition includes early works such as Sonia Boyce’s Rice n Peas (1982) and Jennifer Comrie’s Coming to Terms Through Conflict (1987), as well as major new commissions by Chila Kumari Burman and Marlene Smith. Visitors will also encounter recent pieces such as Veronica Ryan’s Threads (2024) and Sutapa Biswas’s photographic works from her Lumen series (2021), alongside key loans from the Arts Council Collection and Himid’s personal archive.
An extensive archival display will present photographs, letters, exhibition plans and personal correspondence from the original 1985 show — much of it never before seen — highlighting the care, labour and collaboration that made The Thin Black Line such a radical cultural moment.
In keeping with Himid’s original vision of a multidisciplinary Black arts festival, the ICA will also host a vibrant programme of talks, live performances, music, poetry, and film screenings, including work by artists such as Pratibha Parmar, Amber Akaunu, Tao Lashley-Burnley, and others. Visitors will be invited not only to view but to listen, reflect, and participate.
To mark the occasion, the ICA will republish the original 1985 exhibition guide, long out of print, alongside a new companion publication featuring reflections and new writing by the participating artists
Featuring Artists
- Brenda Agard – Photographer, poet, and member of Polareyes and The Black Photographers Group
- Sutapa Biswas – Multidisciplinary artist exploring memory and colonial histories
- Sonia Boyce – Interdisciplinary artist and pioneer of social practice
- Chila Kumari Burman – Neon artist, printmaker, and feminist icon
- Jennifer Comrie – Abstract and spiritual pastel-based works
- Lubaina Himid – Curator, painter, and champion of underrepresented histories
- Claudette Johnson – Celebrated for bold, intimate portraits of Black sitters
- Ingrid Pollard – Landscape and identity-focused photographer and visual artist
- Veronica Ryan – Sculptor using organic and psychological materials
- Marlene Smith – Artist and founding member of the BLK Art Group
- Maud Sulter – Poet, performer and artist who reclaimed Black women’s presence in art history
Supported by
The Christian Levett Collection and Musée FAMM Mougins, The Ampersand Foundation, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and Lubaina Himid.
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