National Galleries of Scotland: Everlyn Nicodemus
There’s a major new exhibition in National Galleries of Scotland: Modern One – Everlyn Nicodemus’s paintings, drawings, collages and textiles are displayed across the whole of the ground floor and are freely accessible over winter and spring, until 25 May
The Tanzania-born artist, writer and curator Everlyn Nicodemus has been described as one of the strongest feminist voices to emerge from East Africa in recent decades. Her vibrant, defiant and searingly honest works will animate the gallery spaces of Modern One, with over 80 works from the last 40 years, the earliest dating back to 1980. The survey is a major milestone, and its Edinburgh location holds personal significance for the artist herself, after 15 years living and working in the capital. She says, “Having lived as a nomad all my life, this is the first place where I’ve been able to live and create in one space that is both my home and my studio.
“It's a rare and unique experience for any artist, and especially for a Black African woman artist, to witness a retrospective of their own, and of this scale, so I feel incredibly lucky. This exhibition is a journey through my whole artistic life, and I hope it resonates deeply with those who experience it."
Stephanie Straine, Senior Curator Modern & Contemporary Art, says, “It’s a long overdue chance for our audiences both local and international to experience her work for the first time in her home city, which is very special. Many of the artworks on show have not been exhibited publicly anywhere for decades, if at all, so we’re hoping that people visiting will feel that they’ve experienced a real insight into a major figure in contemporary art, whose work has not been widely seen in the UK.”
The exhibition has been a long time in the planning. Says Straine, “Everlyn and I have spent the last three years preparing for this show by talking about her incredible career, powerful artworks and inspiring life story together, which has been an absolute joy and privilege for me.” There is even a new painting series for visitors to experience – Straine provides some context: “Everlyn won’t mind me sharing that she celebrated her 70th birthday earlier this year. That’s a big milestone for anyone, but it’s particularly special to have a full-career retrospective for the first time in the same year. She’s finished a new body of work just in time – a painting series collectively titled Lazarus Jacaranda – that makes its debut at Modern One.”
The Wedding 45 (1991) by Everlyn Nicodemus. Copyright the Artist. Purchased with help from the Olive Pollock Morris Bequest and the Cecil & Mary Gibson Bequest, with contributions from private donors, 2024.
Timing with the exhibition opening, the National Galleries of Scotland have announced the acquisition of two of Nicodemus’s paintings, adding them to the national collection on behalf of the people of Scotland. The Wedding 45 (1991) is on display – part of Nicodemusus’s largest body of work, the series was created during her recovery from a mental health breakdown, which the artist now understands to be linked to post-traumatic stress disorder, diagnosed some years later. The Wedding 45 represents a resilient return to life, in all its beauty, difficulty and complexity. The faceless female body has returned to a position of strength and empowerment, with an equal relationship to the world around her.
A second work, Eva (1981) has also been gifted to Scotland’s national collection by Everlyn Nicodemus and Richard Saltoun Gallery, ensuring the artist’s legacy will continue long after the exhibition has finished. Painted when Everlyn was living in Stockholm, Eva depicts the Old Testament figure of Eve (Eva in Swedish), pregnant and standing on a large red apple, with a bite taken out of it. Her pregnancy and the apple both indicate that this work depicts her after Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden for consuming the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge. The painting’s themes of pregnancy and birth, the Biblical focus on sin, and Eve’s victimisation are linked to the artist’s memories, from growing up in Tanzania, of the stigma that surrounded pregnancy outside of marriage. As in many cultures, she recalls that young women were blamed for their unwanted early pregnancies, even when the result of rape. Eva is a painting that proudly declares the artist’s unwavering support for global reproductive rights.
“Together, they speak to her innovations as a painter, and her striking ability to address challenging subject matters in visually striking and resonant ways,” Straine explains. “Both works communicate that art can be a powerful tool for challenging inequality and oppression, creating an alternative feminist space in which to explore shared human experiences.”
Everlyn Nicodemus, National Galleries Scotland: Modern One, until 25 May
Open daily 10am-5pm; admission free
To find out more visit www.nationalgalleries.org