Black culture's impact on society
WHETHER it's 70s Afro hair, a 90s baseball cap or Noughties bling, there's no doubt that black culture has heavily influenced British style.
The Meaning of Style exhibition at the New Art Exchange in Hyson Green explores the presence of young African Caribbean men in Britain over the last 40 years.
One of the contributors is Jamaican-based artist Gerard Hanson. He is of Jamaican and Irish parentage and recently moved to Jamaica after being brought up in Bradford and living in other areas of the UK, including Notts.
He was commissioned by the gallery to create work which reflected dance floor fashions associated with the music culture in Jamaica's capital, Kingston.
He says: "I've been quite an avid reggae fan for years, so it wasn't difficult to get going. I went to the record shop where I go and buy old 45s and told them about the project and they put me in touch with some guys from a local sound system."
A sound system is a group of DJs, MCs and other music enthusiasts that work together and create music.
Gerard encouraged the musicians to dress how they would for a night out dancing and then photographed them for the exhibition. "I had nothing to do with what they were wearing. I didn't dictate how they were going to look," he says.
"I find in Jamaica that it's not so much about what you wear but how you wear it. They're amazingly well dressed and presented. Also, when you point a camera at them, they like to pose and they come across as very confident."
The result is a real mix of styles – some wearing lots of bling and Kanye West-style shades, while others look as though they're from the 70s with large Afro hair and tailored shirts.
"If you look carefully at what they're wearing, you can see a real trans-Atlantic influence," says Gerard. "There's an influence from the US of modern trainers, then some are wearing tighter jeans and some are baggier – that's a real debate here in Jamaica – the tightness comes from Europe and the baggy ones from hip-hop culture.
"There's a homespun element to a lot of their outfits. Some of the T-shirts will be designed and printed locally, but they're influenced by music videos, TV, and magazines. I think the main influence is music video culture."
Gerard printed the black and white photos on to canvas and added colour with paint. Although the pieces reflect the style of young men in Jamaica, Gerard believes that they say a lot about fashion all over the world.
"I think black culture goes across a lot of international culture boundaries. In current times you see black, white and Asian boys looking not a million miles apart. The movement of people is fundamental to that."
One of the others artists involved is Birmingham-based Barbara Walker, who will be exhibiting 10 pieces. Some of her work explores the social and political implications of stop and search, while her other work, like Gerard's, looks at the style of young black men.
Having a 25-year-old son herself, Barbara has seen how important clothes are to creating an identity. She used her son's friends and people she approached as subjects to explore whether clothes define who you are.
Barbara says: "The work is specifically looking at style today. We do live in a society where we judge people by the way they look and how they're dressed. That's the kind of issue I'm trying to raise.
"If someone wears a hoodie does that mean they're bad? Is he or she more of a threat than someone in a suit and tie? People can draw their own conclusions."
When speaking to the young men she painted, Barbara found some of them felt they were judged by what they wore.
Barbara believes that in striving to be individual in their style and stand out from the crowd, they ironically find themselves conforming to a certain style.
She says: "Hip hop has been mass produced and taken on by mainstream culture and mass production."
The Meaning of Style exhibition runs at the New Art Exchange, in Gregory Boulevard, Hyson Green, from today until Saturday, April 10. Admission is free. For more information, go to www.thenewartexchange.org.uk
STATEMENT: Artist Barbara Walker at the New Art Exchange, Hyson Green, with some of her work for the exhibition. C110110DAM2-1
