Tavares Strachan

For this exhibition, Tavares Strachan (born 1979) was inspired by the life and work of activist Marcus Garvey. Drawing on influences that span from music to sports and culture and science, Strachan applies a dub aesthetic within his practice to create works that invert the transatlantic story.

Bahamian-born artist Tavares Strachan’s (born 1979) In Total Darkness engages with French colonialism through an investigation of the Haitian Revolution, the first victorious revolt of Black enslaved people. In doing so, Strachan questions our presumed and popular knowledge of history.

This monograph focuses on the inventive ways in which the Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan (born 1979) engages with questions of cultural visibility and social inequity through painting, sculpture and installation. An interview with curator Ralph Rugoff and essays by writers Ekow Eshun and Maggie M. Cao examine the myriad ways Strachan’s work turns upside down conventional models of knowledge and education, discussing the artist’s own role as an explorer as well as works that pay homage to pioneers who navigated unknown ideas and uncharted territories. This lavishly illustrated volume features work from Strachan’s The Encyclopedia of Invisibility—an ongoing, 2,400-page publication and related sculptures and paintings that spotlight figures forgotten by history—as well as recent pieces that imaginatively remap the lost cultural connections between African diaspora people and traditional African societies.

This the first major book on the Nassau- and New York–based artist Tavares Strachan (born 1979) to be published since 2014. Focusing on his extraordinary exhibition at Marian Goodman Gallery London in 2020, this hardcover book features a lenticular print on the cover and more than 120 full-color images. The book includes a new text by esteemed writer and art critic Adrian Searle.
Strachan’s exhibition In Plain Sight combined painting, sculpture, installation, music and performance within an immersive, site-specific experience. Many elements of the exhibition were hidden, revealing new and inner worlds to the visitors who discovered them. The experience and the works on view prompted visitors to reconsider the Western canon, learn the value of forgotten histories and invite new voices to participate. This fully illustrated catalog presents a unique and lively documentation of this exceptional show.