Page 43 - 2018 Powerlist

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Artist Arts, Fashion & Design

Lynette’s latest exhibition, Under-Song for a Cipher, is
showing at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in
New York. The figurative painter’s solo show features 17
powerfully muted portrait paintings of fictional black
figures. With influences ranging from Manet to Degas
and Sickert, she uses composite sources – magazines,
acquaintances, photographs – to create characters who are
ambiguous, somehow disrupting one’s sense of self.
New Museum assistant curator Natalie Bell hails
Lynette as “a wildly prolific artist” whose works are
“timeless but timely, reminding us of the importance of
black portraiture today”.
It wasn’t until 2006, when she was 29 and won an Arts
Foundation award for painting, that Lynette was able to
work as an artist full-time. The Falmouth College of Art
graduate had worked in a variety of jobs to make ends meet.
In 2013 she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize and in
2015 staged her first major London show at the Serpentine
Gallery. She has become increasingly sought-after by
collectors, with her works now hanging in public galleries
including the Tate, Miami Art Museum, Chicago’s Museum
of Contemporary Art and the V&A.
In October 2015, Lynette’s oil painting, Knave, sold for
$690,000 (£520,000) at Christie’s auction house.

Roy Williams
Playwright

One of the UK’s leading dramatists, Roy’s hit plays include
Soul, the untold story behind the death of Motown legend
Marvin Gaye, which debuted at the Hackney Empire in 2016
to rave reviews.
Revealing what happened during Gaye’s final days – he
was shot dead by his father hours before his 45th birthday
- Soul was described by The Times as a “gorgeously
staged bioplay” while The Daily Telegraph said it was a
“gripping tribute”.
Racial tension and conflict are the hallmarks of much of
Williams’ work and his riveting thriller play Wildefire was
no exception.
It opened at the Hampstead Theatre in November 2014
and explored the issues surrounding the mistrust of the
Metropolitan Police.
It was hailed by the critics, with the Guardian calling it
“visceral and vigorous”.
Previous works include the Olivier Award-nominated
Sucker Punch at the Royal Court and Sing Yer Heart Out for
the Lads at the National Theatre, as well as writing credits
on TV dramas including the BBC’s Babyfather.
He is currently writing new work for the Royal Court
and working on a TV series for Ecosse Films, as well as
screenplays for Tiger Aspect/BBC Films and Calamity
Films.
His new play The Firm – about a former criminal
gang reuniting in a south London pub more than a
decade later – will premiere at the Hampstead Theatre
this autumn.

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