Attenborough Arts Centre will present a major solo exhibition by Leicester artist Tim Fowler this autumn.

Tim Fowler is an artist best known for his immediately recognisable paintings that feature a palette of extremely bright and intense colours. He works intuitively, combining oil and acrylic with spray paint, enamel, graffiti inks, creating layered compositions that fizz with energy.

This exhibition, entitled ‘The Ground’, after the name that many Bajans give to their gardens, will be Tim’s largest solo show to date and a personal exploration of the artist’s Bajan heritage, bringing together key pieces from an ongoing body of work that began in 2020. Inspired by the results of a DNA test, Tim started researching his family history, and then became fascinated by plants that have made a migratory journey similar to his own DNA: from West Africa via the Caribbean to the UK. Tim says:

‘It is important to me that this exhibition comes from a place of learning and represents both the darker colonial history of the journey that my DNA has taken, as well as the cultural beauty expressed and mirrored in the plants that I paint.’

Following a significant period of research and development, Tim’s focus has shifted from plantation crops linked to the transatlantic slave trade, such as tobacco, cotton and indigo, to plants that were used by indigenous and enslaved communities for their practical and medicinal properties. Tim visited Barbados to see first-hand how communities there live with and make use of these plants, and upon his return he spent time with the University of Leicester’s Archives & Special Collections, looking at some of the earliest books that document plants from the Caribbean for a European audience.

The exhibition features in Attenborough Arts Centre’s series of events being held during October 2024 for Black History Month and as part of the Leicester Art Week programme from 8-17 November 2024.