This reader brings together crucial perspectives from leading art historians, artists and peers, illuminating artist Donald Rodney’s enduring influence on contemporary art and cultural discourse.

Adopting the physical dimensions of Rodney’s treasured sketchbooks, this book also includes full-scale reproductions of his notes and drawings, alongside selected works spanning his career.

"Donald Rodney was a trailblazer. He was able to articulate and deconstruct the ongoing damage projected onto the black male body often found in popular media. Drawing on forms of representation that have refused to consider black masculinity as sensitive or vulnerable, Donald’s artistic practice stands for a worldly humanness, infused with poignancy and incisive brilliance."

—Sonia Boyce, artist and peer of Donald Rodney

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Donald Rodney: Visceral Canker at Spike Island, Bristol, Nottingham Contemporary and Whitechapel Gallery, London.

DONALD RODNEY

Donald Rodney (b. West Bromwich, 1961–1998) was a British artist. He was born in West Bromwich, to Jamaican parents, and grew up in Smethwick, on the outskirts of Birmingham. He studied Art Foundation at Bournville School of Art, Birmingham (1980-81); BA Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic in Nottingham (1981–1985); and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Multi-Media Fine Art at Slade School of Fine Art in London (1987). Rodney first gained visibility as a member of the BLK Art Group in the early 1980s, through a series of exhibitions titled The Pan-Afrikan Connection (1981–84).  

Rodney’s solo exhibitions include Reimagining Donald Rodney, Vivid Projects, Birmingham (2016); Donald Rodney – In Retrospect, iniva, London (2008); 9 Night in Eldorado, South London Gallery (1997); Cataract, Camerawork, London (1991); Critical, Rochdale Art Gallery (1990); Crisis, Chisenhale Gallery, London (1989); The First White Christmas & Other Empire Stories, Saltley Print and Media, Birmingham (1985); and The Atrocity Exhibition & Other Empire Stories, Black Art Gallery, London (1986). 

Rodney’s work is in the collections of Tate Gallery, London; Arts Council England; the British Council; the Government Art Collection; Museums Sheffield; the National Galleries of Wales; South London Gallery; Wolverhampton Art Gallery; and Birmingham City Art Gallery.