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Londoners using Brixton tube station will see a new mural above the entrance from today (25 October).
Three Women — by renowned British artist and Turner Prize 2024 nominee Claudette Johnson — is a triptych featuring Black female figures, inspired by Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Says Art on the Underground, which commissioned the mural:
This painting by Picasso, whose problematic and fractured engagement with African art and the female form marked shifts in Johnson's early work, evoked questions about how she might locate herself in her work, and as a Black woman confront the denials and distortions of Western art history.
As is common in Johnson's style, the three women in this mural spill out beyond the frame, a gesture which she says "gives space and power to the presence of Black people". Though Johnson has been painting for decades, Three Women is her first public artwork.
If you like what you see, you needn't travel far to see more of Johnson's work; some pieces — including a portrait of the African-American slavery abolitionist Sarah Parker Remond — are currently on display, as part of the Turner Prize show at Tate British in Pimlico. Just ride three stops on the Victoria line from Brixton.
