Wolverhampton Art Gallery is hosting a new exhibition featuring the work of the founder member artists of the Blk Art Group, an association of young black British artists formed in 1979 to question what black art was, its identity and what it could become in the future.

The Blk Art Group were instrumental in shaping the emerging British ‘Black Arts Movement’ through ground-breaking creative practice, exhibitions, activism and events. Britain’s art history was profoundly transformed by this collective from the Midlands and continues to reverberate today.

The more things change... tells the story of the Blk Art Group from 1979 to 1984 by platforming a collective of artists who had developed their knowledge of art history, artistic skills, and expertise at art schools in Nottingham, Sunderland, Wolverhampton, Bradford and London and then focuses on their evolving individual practices from 1985 to the present day.

Over 30 works by Claudette Johnson, Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, Donald Rodney, and Janet Vernon will occupy three rooms within the gallery space. Exploring the collective’s aesthetic practice, the exhibition includes paintings, works on paper, mixed media, sculpture, and film.

Accompanying the show will be a public programme and symposia which explores the Group’s relationship to the wider British Black Arts Movement of the 1980s and beyond.

The more things change… is co-curated by Dr Sylvia Theuri, Dr Ian Sergeant and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. It is the outcome of a partnership between Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton School of Art, and the Blk Art Group Research Project (Keith Piper, Marlene Smith and Claudette Johnson).

The more things change… shows at Wolverhampton Art Gallery from 29 April - 9 July. For more information, click here.