Name: Resistant Forms
Start: 2026-04-10
End: 2026-08-30
Location: Camden Art Centre

Type

Exhibitions

Format

In the Building

Date 10 Apr/30 Aug 2026

Price Free

Book

★★★★ – TimeOut

Explore the expansive resonances of a body of work – produced through a life-long commitment to experimentation.

London’s first comprehensive survey of Guyanese-British ceramicist, painter and sculptor Donald Locke.

A post-war artist of the Windrush Generation, Donald Locke (1930-2010) played a pivotal role in 20th century British sculpture. This exhibition, presenting over 80 works across five decades, offers a long-overdue exploration of the artist, whose significance has gone under-recognised in the UK.

Always experimenting, Locke’s practice is characterised by his evolving approach to different media and his formal ingenuity, alongside a constant exploration of history, identity and subjugation.

Resistant Forms charts this evolution of Locke’s work across his life as he moved between homes in Guyana, the UK and the United States – influenced by the people and places he encountered along the way.

Commencing with his early ceramics works, evocative of human and natural forms, the exhibition traces the artist’s move to mixed-media sculpture and the monochromatic black paintings from his Plantation Series in the 1970s. Also presented are his large-scale paintings from the 90s, which continued Locke’s assemblage practice, through their incorporation of found images and ceramic, metal and wood. The final section of the show presents a selection of experimental works made by Locke during the final years of his life in Atlanta – mixing memory and mythologies, which were deeply influenced by the vibrant art scene and assemblage traditions of the American South.

A singularly prolific and heterodox artist, this exhibition represents the most comprehensive survey to date of the range of materials and styles adopted by Donald Locke across his life, reflecting his unwavering pursuit to give form and visibility to the “unique and hybrid contributions of Black culture to modernity.”

This exhibition is the final presentation of Resistant Forms, following iterations at Spike Island, Bristol, and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, in 2025.

Lead image: Timehri Rock #40, 2009. Mixed media, ceramic, twigs. Image courtesy of The Anthony Shaw Collection/York Museums Trust. Photo: Tom Meyer

Exhibition Introductions

Every Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 3pm.

These introductions, delivered by our volunteers, are a chance to hear different entry points into our current exhibitions, reflecting the passions, interests and perspectives of our volunteer gallery assistants. Free. No booking required. Meet by the entrance to the galleries on the first floor.

Relaxed Viewing Sessions

Thu 30 April and Sat 30 May 2026, 10.00–11.00.
Learn more

Credits

Donald Locke: Resistant Forms is organised by Spike Island, Bristol; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; and Camden Art Centre, London; with support from the Donald Locke Estate. The exhibitions at Spike Island and Ikon Gallery were curated by Robert Leckie, Director of Gasworks, London (and former Director of Spike Island). The exhibition at Camden Art Centre is curated by Martin Clark and Gina Buenfeld-Murley, in collaboration with Robert Leckie.

Resistant Forms is generously supported by Alison Jacques, the Ampersand Foundation, the Estate of Donald Locke, Henry Moore Foundation and Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. The exhibition at Camden Art Centre has been generously supported by Cockayne Grants for the Arts, a Donor Advised Fund, held at the Prism Charitable Trust.

The Artist

Donald Locke (b.1930, Stewartville, Guyana; d. 2010 Atlanta, Georgia, USA) was a Guyanese painter, sculptor, and ceramicist, whose career was marked by its ambitious, interdisciplinary nature.

He grew up in Guyana and attended the Working People’s Art Class (WPAC) taught in Georgetown by Guyanese artist Edward Rupert Burrowes in 1947. He was awarded scholarships to study at Bath Academy of Art at Corsham from 1954–57 and Edinburgh School of Art from 1959–64, where he obtained an MA in Fine Art. Locke returned to Guyana in 1964 to become Art Master at Queen’s College in Georgetown, where he taught until 1969. He then received a bursary to return to Edinburgh School of Art to study ceramics, after which he moved to London, where he lived from 1970–78. In 1979, Locke was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Sculpture at Arizona State University. He lived in Phoenix, Arizona until 1990 and then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he lived until his death in 2010.

Prior UK solo exhibitions include: Pork Knocker Dreams, Nottingham Art Exchange and Wolverhampton Art Gallery (2009-2010) curated by Indra Khanna; and Commonwealth Institute, London (1975). Other solo exhibitions include: Atlanta Contemporary Art Center (2024–25); High Museum of Art, Atlanta (2016–17); Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, Newark (2004); and City Hall Gallery East, Atlanta (2003). Group exhibitions include: Black Atlantic: People, Power, Resistance, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (2023); Life Between Islands, Tate Britain, London (2021) and Art Gallery of Ontario (2023); Back to Black: Art, Cinema and the Racial Imaginary, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2005); The Other Story, Hayward Gallery, London (1989); FESTAC ‘77, Lagos (1977); and the 12th São Paulo Biennial (1971). Locke’s works have been acquired by institutions including Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Virginia Fine Art Museum, Virginia; and High Museum of Art, Atlanta.