By Newsdesk

Monday, July 8, 2013.

Renowned Black British artist Sonia Boyce MBE has been appointed  a Professor of Fine Art at Middlesex University’s School of Art and Design.

 Professor Boyce, who was one of the leading figures in the burgeoning British Black Arts Movement of the 1980s, has exhibited widely throughout the UK and internationally.  Her works are held in many collections including the Tate Modern.  

As a British-born Afro-Caribbean artist, Prof Boyce’s early works addressed issues of race, gender and contemporary urban experience through large pastel drawings and photographic collages.  Since the 1990s her practice has incorporated a wider variety of media, and has stretched in more recent years to include the participation of other people in improvised collaborations between artists, vocalists and audiences.

Prof Boyce’s high standing in the art community was further recognised when she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2007, for services to the arts.

London’s Middlesex University says Prof Boyce’s appointment is part of its biggest investment in academic talent in its history, which has welcomed more than 100 members of high profile staff who have been selected for their research knowledge, professional standing or links to industry. 

Prof Boyce’s research interests lie in art as a social practice, and in the critical and contextual debates on collaborative, participatory and socially-engaged art.  At Middlesex she joins fellow artist Keith Piper who was also part of the British Black Arts Movement and who now heads up the department of Fine Art. 

Over the past 30 years Prof Boyce has taught Fine Art studio practice in many art colleges across the UK. She has been a Director of the African and Asian Visual Artists Archive at the University of East London which focused on the work of contemporary artists of African and Asian descent working in the UK.

She said: “"Working with other people always inspires me, and without exception always adds an element of the unpredictable to the work. It is the pleasures and challenges of working collaboratively, as well as the often political nature of the subject matter that keeps me engaged in continuing to work this way."

 Prof Boyce currently has a solo exhibition at Rivington Place, London, which runs until 27 July 2013.