Joy Labinjo's guest appearances

Joy Labinjo

Front Row

Saturday Review

Talk Art

Grayson Perry

Martin Creed

Olivia Laing

Charles I

Graham Norton

Rachel Kushner

Mark Gatiss

Alan Partridge

Owen Sheers

Lionel Shriver

Howard Jacobson

Julius Caesar

Ken Loach

Ellie Goulding

John Hurt

OwlTail

We meet leading British-Nigerian artist Joy Labinjo to discuss her solo exhibition of self-portraits in Lagos at Tiwani Contemporary, her giant public mural for Brixton underground station and her major institutional solo show at Chapter Gallery, Cardiff.Joy Labinjo’s large-scale figurative paintings often depict intimate scenes of historical and contemporary life, both real and imagined and often based on figures appearing in personal and archival imagery that include family photographs, found images and historical material. In the past, she has explored themes including but not limited to identity, political voice, power, Blackness, race, history, community and family and their role in contemporary experience. Exploring multiple modes of representation including abstraction, naturalism, flatness and graphic patterns, Labinjo’s ‘collage aesthetic’ comprises an eclectic visual vocabulary and mixed painterly techniques which echo her experience of multiple identities – growing up Black, British, Nigerian in the 90s and early 00s.  Comprising a series of nude self-portraits – her only works of such kind to date, the exhibition unfolds an interest in the significance of the nude in the history of visual art and contemporary public practices of sending nude digital imagery for example to lovers. These large scale works translate images that Labinjo took using her phone. Each work comprises loose geometric color blocks where her body can be likened to a variegated landscape. Capturing a range of poses, the works are resolutely frank and unapologetic. In this way, they assert an acceptance of self that is divergent from performative nudity and highlight self-love as erotic and feminine and at odds with patriarchy and sexism. Labinjo’s figure is emphasized by muted and simplified backgrounds, distinct from the dense compositions of her earlier paintings. Departing in colour and composition from previous works, these works present muted earth tones alongside a solitude that dominates each image and contrast with the vivid, saturated colours and social exchanges shown in earlier paintings. She continues to hone distorted renderings that percolate between abstraction and representation. Each work positions Labinjo’s body against a new beginning or a space to be populated by unforeseen content.   In the context of historical and contemporary events in Nigeria, the works also recall the significance of female nudity and its link to collective action in the West African country. In the early 20th century, numerous accounts emerged of women using their nude body to dissent against onerous taxation structures and unfair laws during the country’s colonial period. More recently, Nigerian women have threatened and used naked protest against a range of happenings in the country including the abduction of school girls in Chibok in the north-east and, in the north, anti-violence in Kaduna respectively.  As such, Labinjo’s work presents the body as a political agent and platform. By portraying herself nude, she invites the viewer to consider the artist’s position, and the cultural loads that cover the body. Labinjo obscures reference to place, time, and social affiliation and prioritizes her self-perspective, removing much of the representational content that took precedence in earlier work. These works imitate a personal relationship between Labinjo and her body and present a point through which the artist is able to build associations that inform her interpretations of her surroundings and crucially, her own body. Follow @JoyLabinjo and @TiwaniContemporary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We meet leading British-Nigerian artist Joy Labinjo to discuss her solo exhibition of self-portraits in Lagos at Tiwani Contemporary, her giant public mural for Brixton underground station and her major institutional solo show at Chapter Gallery, Cardiff.Joy Labinjo’s large-scale figurative paintings often depict intimate scenes of historical and contemporary life, both real and imagined and often based on figures appearing in personal and archival imagery that include family photographs, found images and historical material. In the past, she has explored themes including but not limited to identity, political voice, power, Blackness, race, history, community and family and their role in contemporary experience. Exploring multiple modes of representation including abstraction, naturalism, flatness and graphic patterns, Labinjo’s ‘collage aesthetic’ comprises an eclectic visual vocabulary and mixed painterly techniques which echo her experience of multiple identities – growing up Black, British, Nigerian in the 90s and early 00s.  Comprising a series of nude self-portraits – her only works of such kind to date, the exhibition unfolds an interest in the significance of the nude in the history of visual art and contemporary public practices of sending nude digital imagery for example to lovers. These large scale works translate images that Labinjo took using her phone. Each work comprises loose geometric color blocks where her body can be likened to a variegated landscape. Capturing a range of poses, the works are resolutely frank and unapologetic. In this way, they assert an acceptance of self that is divergent from performative nudity and highlight self-love as erotic and feminine and at odds with patriarchy and sexism. Labinjo’s figure is emphasized by muted and simplified backgrounds, distinct from the dense compositions of her earlier paintings. Departing in colour and composition from previous works, these works present muted earth tones alongside a solitude that dominates each image and contrast with the vivid, saturated colours and social exchanges shown in earlier paintings. She continues to hone distorted renderings that percolate between abstraction and representation. Each work positions Labinjo’s body against a new beginning or a space to be populated by unforeseen content.   In the context of historical and contemporary events in Nigeria, the works also recall the significance of female nudity and its link to collective action in the West African country. In the early 20th century, numerous accounts emerged of women using their nude body to dissent against onerous taxation structures and unfair laws during the country’s colonial period. More recently, Nigerian women have threatened and used naked protest against a range of happenings in the country including the abduction of school girls in Chibok in the north-east and, in the north, anti-violence in Kaduna respectively.  As such, Labinjo’s work presents the body as a political agent and platform. By portraying herself nude, she invites the viewer to consider the artist’s position, and the cultural loads that cover the body. Labinjo obscures reference to place, time, and social affiliation and prioritizes her self-perspective, removing much of the representational content that took precedence in earlier work. These works imitate a personal relationship between Labinjo and her body and present a point through which the artist is able to build associations that inform her interpretations of her surroundings and crucially, her own body. Follow <a href="https://www.instagram.com/joylabinjo/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@JoyLabinjo</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tiwanicontemporary/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@TiwaniContemporary</a>. Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Hanne Orstavik

Making Waves: The Art Of Cinematic Sound is a documentary looking at (and listening to) the work of sound designers in film. What do they do and how do they affect the viewer?The Antipodes the latest play by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Annie Baker. Set in a brainstorming meeting for some undisclosed creative company, the tensions of office relationships and the need to be imaginative lead to tensionsHanne Orstavik's novel Love unfolds in a village in far northern Norway. Jon is a young boy, looking forward to his birthday tomorrow, always thinking of his mother even though the attention isn't reciprocalThe BBC has a brand new version of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. It's been a book, a BBC Radio play, a film and now a TV adaptation. How does the small screen incarnation fare?Joy Labinjo is a young Nigerian/British painter who has an exhibition of her work at The Baltic in Gateshead.Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Christopher Frayling and Kathryn Hughes. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra recommendations:Ellah: Media Democracy podcastChristopher: The Dublin Murders and Paolozzi exhibition at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert in LondonKathryn: The Reinvention of Humanity by Charles KingTom: Guilt on BBC2 and The CryptoQueen podcast Main image: Dafne KeenPhoto credit: Bad Wolf/BBC One/HBO

Making Waves: The Art Of Cinematic Sound is a documentary looking at (and listening to) the work of sound designers in film. What do they do and how do they affect the viewer? The Antipodes the latest play by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Annie Baker. Set in a brainstorming meeting for some undisclosed creative company, the tensions of office relationships and the need to be imaginative lead to tensions Hanne Orstavik's novel Love unfolds in a village in far northern Norway. Jon is a young boy, looking forward to his birthday tomorrow, always thinking of his mother even though the attention isn't reciprocal The BBC has a brand new version of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. It's been a book, a BBC Radio play, a film and now a TV adaptation. How does the small screen incarnation fare? Joy Labinjo is a young Nigerian/British painter who has an exhibition of her work at The Baltic in Gateshead. Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Ellah Wakatama Allfrey, Christopher Frayling and Kathryn Hughes. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra recommendations: Ellah: Media Democracy podcast Christopher: The Dublin Murders and Paolozzi exhibition at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert in London Kathryn: The Reinvention of Humanity by Charles King Tom: Guilt on BBC2 and The CryptoQueen podcast Main image: Dafne Keen Photo credit: Bad Wolf/BBC One/HBO

Making Waves, The Antipodes, Hanne Orstavik, His Dark Materials, Joy Labinjo

Alastair Sooke

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Berlin Film Festival, By the Grace of God is Francois Ozon's new feature film about sexual abuse hidden by the Catholic Church in France. Briony Hanson reviews. The young artist Joy Labinjo discusses her new exhibition Our Histories Cling to Us at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. Her large oil paintings draw on Labinjo's personal experience of growing up in the UK with British-Nigerian heritage, using photos to explore memory and ideas of belonging, focusing on intimate scenes of contemporary family life.Art Critic Alistair Sooke talks about The Way I See It - his new landmark series for BBC Radio 3 in which 30 leading cultural figures choose their favourite work from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and explain what it means to them. The former EastEnders actress Katie Jarvis has been in the tabloid press this week after it revealed she was working as a shop security guard. But with most actors out of performing work most of the time is it such a shock? Chris Rankin - Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter films - talks about his personal experience of working in a pub after the franchise ended and Matt Hood of Equity explains why actors' "day jobs" are not only a necessity but an advantage. Presenter: Samira AhmedProducer: Hannah Robins

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Berlin Film Festival, By the Grace of God is Francois Ozon's new feature film about sexual abuse hidden by the Catholic Church in France. Briony Hanson reviews. The young artist Joy Labinjo discusses her new exhibition Our Histories Cling to Us at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead. Her large oil paintings draw on Labinjo's personal experience of growing up in the UK with British-Nigerian heritage, using photos to explore memory and ideas of belonging, focusing on intimate scenes of contemporary family life. Art Critic Alistair Sooke talks about The Way I See It - his new landmark series for BBC Radio 3 in which 30 leading cultural figures choose their favourite work from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and explain what it means to them. The former EastEnders actress Katie Jarvis has been in the tabloid press this week after it revealed she was working as a shop security guard. But with most actors out of performing work most of the time is it such a shock? Chris Rankin - Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter films - talks about his personal experience of working in a pub after the franchise ended and Matt Hood of Equity explains why actors' "day jobs" are not only a necessity but an advantage. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

Joy Labinjo, By The Grace of God reviewed, Alastair Sooke, actors doing other jobs