
About WE OUT HERE
Exhibition Date: 1st April to 4th June 2023
Wednesday to Sunday 10.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.
Exhibition location: Hastings Contemporary (HC), Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings TN34 3DW
Wraparound events and activities happen at HC and various Hastings locations.
WE OUT HERE (WOH) is a groundbreaking exhibition showcasing the work of six Black artists of Caribbean heritage based in Hastings.
The artists will be creating new culturally-specific artworks and collaborating to produce a distinctive, large-scale, multi-media show. Working in different mediums, the themes they will explore include: migration, Black lives in coastal towns, relationships with the sea, climate justice and racial injustice, fast fashion and the Black presence in crafts.
WOH speaks to and engages with the Black and wider communities in Hastings. Complementing the show in the Foreshore Gallery will be a range of creative activities, events and discussions. We Out Here will also be complemented offsite with a series of community-based activities and workshops which aim to encourage art engagement.
The project is led by local artist Lorna Hamilton-Brown RCA MBE – known as the ‘Banksy’ of the knitting world for her use of the medium for social commentary. For WOH, Lorna will be creating a new ‘WE MEK’ knitted magazine cover – The Windrush 75 Issue.
It will feature the celebrated author of Small Island, the late Andrea Levy and commemorate the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush carrying passengers from the Caribbean to the UK.
“We Out Here has given me the chance to bring together Hastings-based Black artists who I admire, from a range of disciplines to create an historic exhibition. We have been hidden in plain sight for too long, but WE OUT HERE!”
– Lorna Hamilton-Brown
Artists taking part in the exhibition are: