Great Britain

Lubaina Himid’s British pavilion commission explores the nature of belonging and how to make a home in a new place. In her dazzling, large multi-panelled paintings, Himid places industrious figures – Architects, Boatbuilders, Chefs, Tailors, Gardeners – discussing, arguing, collaborating on whether to move or stay. The exhibition captures daily tensions of belonging felt by those from elsewhere as they navigate different cultures, behaviours and climates.

Himid embraces the pavilion’s neo-classical architecture, presenting Britain as welcoming and pleasant. Yet an underlying unease permeates through sounds, texts and images suggesting awkwardness and uncertainty in this otherwise apparently idyllic setting.

Himid invites the active involvement of the audience, creating scenes in her paintings that viewers might be experiencing. As if for theatre, she establishes characters, crafts narratives, imagines dialogue and creates sound effects. She wants the viewer to be as engaged as if they were watching a performance – and to be thoughtfully provoked as a result. You are in the performance; the viewer is the performer.

Himid’s work avoids easy solutions, opening a space for generous, intelligent conversations while maintaining an unshakeable belief in art’s capacity to reshape how we see the world and our place within it.