Jasleen Kaur, Jamie Holman & Masimba Hwati

The British Invasion

In the grandiose surroundings of The Exchange in Blackburn, three artists, Jasleen Kaur, Jamie Holman and Masimba Hwati interrogated complex issues through family histories and lived experiences across three continents to reveal the residual cultural identities of the British Empire.

Over a six month period in 2021, the artists and curators were in dialogue allowing themselves time to consider all aspects of their individual practices and presentation of their work together. The resulting exhibition was the ‘mess’ of new cultures that has emerged as a consequence of colonisation, each artist revealing something of the personal in order to better understand, or make sense of the political.

Om the closing night of BTB21, Masimba Hwati also presented a short performance in collaboration with Paul Nataraj that explored themes around resistance, negotiation and the plight of minority subjects in a post-colonial context.

The British Invasion was curated by Alex Zawadzki