Lubaina Himid (born 1954, Zanzibar; lives and works in Preston, UK) is the recipient of the 2024 Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize, which is envisioned as a transformative award for the artist and the Austin community. Throughout a career spanning four decades, Himid has explored and expanded the possibilities of painting and storytelling to depict contemporary everyday life and to fill gaps in art history through the depiction and centering of Black figures and experiences. Self-described as a painter, cultural activist, witness, storyteller, and historian, Himid was an especially influential figure within the British Black arts movement in the 1980s, and has been a champion of women artists in her role as a teacher, curator, critic, and organizer. Since winning the prestigious Turner Prize in 2017, she has gained wider visibility and increased international recognition for her work.

Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend debuts two new bodies of work created in response to the context of the Jones Center at The Contemporary Austin. On the first floor, Himid stages ten Strategy Paintings that depict Black men and women seated around tables featuring different arrangements of objects. In each painting, the subjects are imagined solving a specific problem. With the Jones Center’s location just a few blocks from the Texas State Capitol, these paintings prompt us to reflect on the people in power who make decisions from afar and how context affects the decisions that are made. Actual tables and chairs installed in the middle of the gallery are available for the public to extend the conversation by holding their own meetings and discussion groups.

On the second floor, Himid has created an arrangement of sixty-four plank paintings entitled Aunties that build on a previous body of work evoking the forms of East African funerary objects. The title references the figure of the “auntie” — an interstitial role honoring the women in our lives who expand our understanding of kinship and family. Each plank, imbued with individual style and character, is constructed from found wood, pointing to Himid’s ongoing interest in the politics of discarded materials and to the traces of previous iterations of the Jones Center’s architecture. The installation’s choreography is a reminder to visitors to be conscious of the space around them and an invitation to look up, down, and underneath.

Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend is organized at The Contemporary Austin by Alex Klein, Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Julie Le, Assistant Curator. The exhibition will travel to The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, September 13, 2024 – January 18, 2025. An exhibition catalogue co-published by The Contemporary Austin, The FLAG Art Foundation, and Dancing Foxes Press is forthcoming in 2025.

About the Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize

The Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize is a biennial prize that supports an artist with a $200,000 award, a solo exhibition at The Contemporary Austin and The FLAG Art Foundation in New York, an accompanying publication, and related public programming. In accordance with the mission of the prize, the winning artist is chosen based on their outstanding merit, a strong record of international exhibitions, and the transformational impact the award stands to have on their life and artistic career. A rotating, independent advisory committee, made up of renowned curators and art historians of contemporary art, selects each year’s recipient.

The prize is made possible by Suzanne Deal Booth and The FLAG Art Foundation.

The 2024 Advisory Committee:

Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Co-Curator of Hawai'i Triennial 2025, Honolulu, HI; sharon maidenberg, Executive Director & CEO of The Contemporary Austin, TX; Jonathan Rider, Director of The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Chief Curator of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Los Angeles, CA; Michelle White, Senior Curator of The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Zoé Whitley, Director of Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK

Communications partner:

2024 Exhibition Program Support

The Contemporary Austin’s 2024 Exhibition Program is supported in part by Rachel and Jeff Arnold, Debbie Dupré and Richard Rothberg, Kathleen Irvin Loughlin and Christopher Loughlin, Chris Mattsson, O’Shaughnessy – Rivers Family Fund, and anonymous donors. 

The Contemporary Austin is supported by the generosity of its Board of Trustees, members and donors, and the citizens of Austin through the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, Economic Development Department. Institutional support is provided, in part, by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Still Water Foundation, and the Texas Commission on the Arts. 

About Make Do and Meet

This special opportunity to gather at a table designed by the artist within the Jones Center’s first floor gallery is inspired by Himid’s new body of work, Strategy Paintings, which depicts figures seated around tables. Each painting imagines the act of solving a problem left open to interpretation. With the Jones Center’s location just a few blocks from the Texas State Capitol, these paintings prompt us to reflect on the people in power who make decisions from afar and how context affects the decisions that are made. We invite museum visitors to stage and extend their own conversations within the exhibition itself, fostering community engagement and reflection on the dynamics of decision making.

Press Release

The Contemporary Austin and The FLAG Art Foundation Announce Make Do and Mend, a Solo Exhibition of Lubaina Himid

en español

Lubaina Himid (nacida en Zanzíbar en 1954, vive y trabaja en Preston, GB) es la ganadora del Premio Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize de 2024, que se concibe como un galardón transformador tanto para quien lo recibe como para la comunidad de Austin. A lo largo de una carrera que se extiende por cuatro décadas, Himid exploró y expandió las posibilidades de la pintura y la narración retratando la vida cotidiana contemporánea y llenando lagunas de la historia del arte a través de la representación de personajes negros y sus experiencias para darles una nueva relevancia. Himid se describe a sí misma como pintora, activista cultural, testigo, narradora e historiadora; fue un personaje particularmente influyente dentro del movimiento artístico negro británico de finales de los ochenta, y una defensora de las artistas mujeres cuando se desempeñó como docente, curadora, crítica y organizadora. Desde que ganó el prestigioso Turner Prize en 2017, cobró mayor visibilidad y ha recibido un reconocimiento internacional creciente por su obra. 

Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend (Arreglárselas y reparar) estrena dos series de obras creadas como respuesta al contexto del Jones Center en The Contemporary Austin. En el primer piso, Himid presenta diez Strategy Paintings (Pinturas estratégicas) que retratan a hombres y mujeres negros sentados alrededor de mesas con objetos dispuestos de diferentes maneras. En cada pintura, se imagina a los personajes resolviendo algún problema en particular. Con el Jones Center apenas a unas cuadras del Capitolio del Estado de Texas, estas pinturas nos invitan a reflexionar sobre las personas con poder que toman decisiones desde lejos y sobre cómo influye el contexto en las decisiones que se toman. Mesas y sillas reales instaladas en la sala están a disposición del público para expandir el diálogo por medio de reuniones propias y grupos de discusión. 

En el segundo piso, Himid creó una configuración de sesenta y cuatro pinturas sobre tablas titulada Aunties (Las tías), a partir de una serie anterior que evoca las formas de los objetos funerarios del este de África. El título hace referencia a la figura de la “tía”, un papel intersticial usado tanto para familiares como para amigas. Cada tabla, impregnada de estilo y carácter individuales, se construye con maderas encontradas, lo cual destaca el interés sostenido de Himid por la política de los materiales descartados y los indicios de las iteraciones previas de la arquitectura del Jones Center. La coreografía de la instalación es un recordatorio para los visitantes de ser conscientes del espacio a su alrededor, así como una invitación a mirar arriba, abajo y debajo. 

Lubaina Himid: Make Do and Mend (Arreglárselas y reparar) fue organizada en The Contemporary Austin por Alex Klein, Jefa de curaduría y directora de asuntos curatoriales, y Julie Le, Curadora asistente. La exposición se presentará en The FLAG Art Foundation, Nueva York, desde el 13 de septiembre de 2024 hasta el 18 de enero de 2025. Un catálogo publicado conjuntamente por The Contemporary Austin, The FLAG Art Foundation y Dancing Foxes Press estará disponible en 2025. 

El premio Suzanne Deal Booth / Fundación FLAG para las Artes

El premio Suzanne Deal Booth / Fundación FLAG para las Artes (Suzanne Deal Booth / FLAG Art Foundation Prize) es el galardón bienal apoya a un artista con un premio de $200,000, una exposición individual en The Contemporary Austin y en la FLAG Art Foundation de Nueva York, una publicación que acompaña las exposiciones y programación pública relacionada con la obra. De acuerdo con la misión del premio, la elección del artista ganador se basa en el mérito sobresaliente, un robusto historial de exposiciones internacionales y el impacto transformador que el premio tendrá en sus vidas y sus carreras artísticas. Un comité asesor, independiente y rotativo, conformado por curadores e historiadores del arte contemporáneo de renombre, selecciona a los beneficiarios de cada año.

El premio es posible gracias a Suzanne Deal Booth y a la FLAG Art Foundation.

Comité Asesor de 2024:

Wassan Al-Khudhairi sharon maidenberg Jonathan Rider Pilar Tompkins Rivas Michelle White Zoé Whitley