Diversity in rhythm

Diversity can have many dimensions within the arts and culture, and the ‘Black Rhythm’ exhibition with the gallery at Artlink, Centre for Community Arts was designed to celebrate diversity within Black culture through the power of rhythm. We all have an undeniable connection to a beat: it’s what keeps us alive, our bodies are driven by it and our interaction is defined by it. In our speech, our movements, our music and in our mark-making there is an ever present rhythm. In Black culture, with all its vibrant and stimulating history, rhythm has played a strong and powerful role in society. From ancestral tribal drumming to the influential spoken words of a president, rhythm has been a messenger for creativity, belief, social issues and community.

The ‘Black Rhythm’ exhibition featured a wide variety of artforms including visual art (painting, sculpture and textiles), performance (dance and music) and documentation (film, audio and photography). Artist’s interpretations of ‘Black Rhythm’ were wide-ranging, revealing the diversity within Black culture: the colourful pen and ink drawings of Ray Charles, Tina Turner and James Brown by a Hull based artist, set against hand carved black stone sculptures of a Zimbabwe man.

One of the works showcased in the exhibition was a film, designed by local Hull school children through a project where each group of two or three was asked to depict the meaning of a song through animation. The level of interpretation in each animation was extraordinary: the pupils had picked on key themes and words used in the song and had either represented them in written or pictorial form.

Art is a great way of demonstrating cultural diversity: it can take a variety of forms and is an easy way for everyone to make their mark. It was great to see the exhibition showcase this and challenge the idea of Black history in a new way. Black history is not just about the events hundreds of years ago, but about the here and now. A selection of young people, who took part in a Black and African Expression workshop as part of the wider Hull Black History Month events, showcased their paintings for the final two weeks of the exhibition. The resulting paintings featured a wide range of people from within Black culture, including Rihanna, Venture Smith, Barack Obama and Martin Luther King.