Ode to David Lammy, 2022

​

Neon and black paint

Letter height: 30 cm, install dimensions: 967.2 cm

​

Edition of 2

​

​

​

I AM HERE BECAUSE YOU WERE THERE—a shared declaration across the African diaspora. The phrase originates from an impassioned speech by David Lammy in 2018, in response to the Windrush scandal, in which British subjects—many of whom had arrived from Caribbean nations decades earlier—were wrongly detained, denied their rights, or threatened with deportation.

​

​

​

Commissioned by Focal Point Gallery as part of the solo exhibition titled Othered in a region that has been historically Othered, 2022. Funded by Arts Council England, Focal Point Gallery and Southend-on-Sea City Council. With support from Art Exchange at the University of Essex. 

​

Credits: 

Fabricator: Neon Circus; Photo 1. Anna Lukula, Photo 2. Lucy Dawkins. Courtesy Gagosian

​

​

Exhibition history:

2025 - Firstsite, Colchester, UK

2023 - Bernie Grant Art Centre, London, UK

2023 - Gagosian, London, UK

2022 - Focal Point Gallery, Southend, UK

​