Himid was born in Zanzibar Sultanate in 1954 and moved to Britain with her mother, a textile designer, following the death of her father when she was just four months old. She attended the Wimbledon College of Art, where she studied Theatre Design, obtaining her B.A. in 1976. She received her Master's degree in Cultural History from the Royal College of Art in London in 1984.
Curatorial work
Himid has organized several exhibitions of work by black women artists, including Black Woman Time Now at the Battersea Arts Centre in London and Five Black Women, an exhibition in 1983 at the Africa Centre, London. Other exhibitions include: Into the Open, The Thin Black Line, Unrecorded Truths, Out There Fighting, New Robes for MaShulan, and State of the Art. Into the Open, presented at Mappin Art Gallery in Sheffield, was widely regarded as the first major exhibit of the new generation of black British artists. Naming the Money, presents an exuberant crowd of 100 enslaved people, in the roles they played in the princely courts of Europe: everything from dog-trainers, toy makers and mapmakers to dancing masters, musicians and painters. They were bought as the 'property' of wealthy Europeans at a time when Africans were regarded as units of currency and black servants were status symbols. Encountering these victims of eighteenth-century human trafficking, the visitor learns their original identities as well as those imposed on them.
Critical reception
Reviewing an updated version of Himid's 2004 work "Naming the Money" for The Daily Telegraph in February 2017, Louisa Buck noted:
"Himid's work has long been concerned with black creativity, history and identity and this animated throng represents the Africans who were brought to Europe as slave servants. There are drummers, dog trainers, dancers, potters, cobblers, gardeners and players of the viola da gamba, all decked out in vivid versions of 17th century costume. Labels on their backs identify each individual, giving both their original African names and occupations as well those imposed by their new European owners, and these poignant texts also form part of an evocative soundtrack, interspersed with snatches of Cuban, Irish, Jewish and African music."
Awards and honours
Board memberships
Himid has held positions on many boards and panels. She is on the board of trustees for the Lowry Arts Centre Manchester. Additionally, she is a board member for Arts Council England Visual Arts, Creative PartnershipsEast Lancs and Arts Council England North West. Previous board memberships include Matt's Gallery, London, and Tate Liverpool Council. From 1985 until 1987 Himid was on the Greater London Arts Association Visual Arts Panel.
Awards
Himid was appointed an MBE in the June 2010 Birthday Honours for "services to Black Women's Art". In 2017 Himid became the first black woman to win the Turner Prize.She was the oldest person to be nominated for the prize since the rules changed to allow nominations of artists over the age of 50. There were, however, older nominees in the 1980s, before the age limit was introduced in 1994. Apollo magazine named Himid as 2017 Artist of the Year. Himid was made a CBE in 2018 "for services to art."
