Southern Somebodies – The Gallery Of Everything, London

Designed to respond to and expand on a current exhibition at the Royal Academy, Southern Somebodies brings more Black artists from the American South to London.

Southern Somebodies

Prompted by an interaction with a reader (thank you!), I recently had the opportunity to visit the Gallery of Everything for their exhibition Southern Somebodies. Featuring Black makers from the American South, the Gallery of Everything describe their exhibition as “a curated response to, and visual expansion of, the Souls Grown Deep Like The River exhibition currently on view at the Royal Academy in London.” Southern Somebodies includes complex works on paper by Prophet Royal Robertson, scarecrows by Hawkins Bolden (who rejected the label of art for his works), and much more.

You may not remember, but the last time the Salterton Arts Review visited the Gallery of Everything was also for an exhibition tie-in. On that occasion the exhibition was Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty at the Barbican, and the Gallery of Everything presented works by artists in Dubuffet’s personal collection, in The Art of Brut.

It’s not unusual for commercial galleries to schedule a part of their programming around exhibitions at London’s bigger institutions. But I particularly like it when the Gallery of Everything does it. For art outside the cultural mainstream, which has so many nuances, these exhibitions provide a different curatorial perspective, sometimes revealing in this way some of the choices, viewpoints and power imbalances when big museums do ‘outsider art’.

A Black Vernacular

It’s important to note here that ‘outsider art’ is a somewhat loaded term. As are most terms in this space. I have another post coming soon in which I get into terminology in more detail, but for now I just wanted to point out that my own thinking has evolved as I’ve seen and read more. ‘Art outside the cultural mainstream’ is actually I term I read and liked on the Gallery of Everything’s own website. For me, it comes the closest to encompassing a disparate group of artists with often idiosyncratic styles, without perpetuating unnecessary art world hierarchies.

What is a Black vernacular, then? In art, the term ‘vernacular’ generally refers to what we’re discussing above: art from outside the cultural mainstream. Others might refer to it as ‘folk art’ or ‘outsider art’. Normally an artist who forms part of the Black vernacular in the US will be largely self-taught (or at least not have received a formal arts education). They may use materials at hand to create art in a deeply personal style. The Gallery of Everything refers to ‘an informal and instinctive personal practice.’

The artists on view in Southern Somebodies all fit this bill to some degree. A gallery handout lists 26, many of whom lived and worked in places like Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana or the Carolinas. Only one artist is still living: Dr. Charles Smith, born in New Orleans in 1940. They share a resourceful and deeply creative approach to art, seeing possibilities in a vast range of materials. In this modest exhibition there are paintings, drawings and sculptures. The media range from paint, pencils and markers, to found objects like discarded kitchenware, wood and corrugated metal.

Compare And Contrast

The first thing I’ll say here is that I enjoyed both exhibitions. I like being exposed to new artists and styles of art. Both Souls Grown Deep and Southern Somebodies have a good depth and variety in the art on display. Both present complementary information on the artists (or at least some of them). The Royal Academy have text panels, and the Gallery of Everything screen an interesting documentary downstairs.

One difference is in how the works themselves are displayed. The Gallery of Everything, aside from that documentary, lets the art speak for itself. It gives space for the artists’ individuality, without focusing on and therefore somehow reinforcing their marginalisation. It celebrates the joy and inventiveness of the works.

Another difference is how self-aware the Gallery of Everything is. That is perhaps to be expected: art outside the cultural mainstream is their bread and butter. But compared to Souls Grown Deep where I felt a little uncomfortable with the unaddressed power dynamic of a White collector and champion of Black artists, the Gallery of Everything hand out an essay by Samuel Reilly which acknowledges the uneasy dynamics head on. Bringing this art into the gallery or ‘musealising’ it, talking about it from the perspective of art world insiders (even here)… There’s a danger of recreating power imbalances in all of it. But given the chance again would I deprive myself an opportunity to see these wonderful artworks because they might provoke challenging questions? Nope, not even a small chance of that – it’s what art is all about.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Southern Somebodies on until 6 August 2023