Artists, novelists, actors, poets: from the Venice Biennale to Bridgerton, Black women in their 50s and 60s are finally getting the recognition they deserve, says the pioneering Booker winner
When I heard, earlier this month, that the fine-art photographer Ingrid Pollard had made the shortlist for the Turner prize, potentially the most career-changing of art accolades, I was overjoyed, but also astonished. Overjoyed because her art deserves this level of recognition; astonished because it has taken this long for Pollard, whom I have known for 40 years and is well into her 60s, to take her place in the spotlight. The sculptor Veronica Ryan also made the list. Like Pollard, she has had a sustained career as an artist since the 80s.
I delight in the fact that Black female creatives in their 50s and 60s are having a moment. Just this week, it was announced that Sonia Boyce, who also came of age in the 80s and is representing Britain at the Venice Biennale with her exhibition Feeling Her Way, had won the prestigious Golden Lion for best national exhibition. Likewise, Simone Leigh, representing the US, was awarded the Golden Lion for best participant for her bronze sculpture Brick House. They are both, shockingly, the first Black women to represent their countries since the biennale’s founding 127 years ago.
