Artist in Residence: Katie Numi Usher

Katie Numi Usher (Belize) is artist in residence at Gasworks from 10 January - 28 March 2022.

Katie lives and works in Belize , and her practice spans performance, sculpture, painting and embroidery to explore blackness and interrogate black female erasure within the both the colonial history of Belize and the present day.

She is particularly interested in the lack of visibility of black women within art history and uses her work to challenge the cultural institutions of Belize to address this imbalance. Usher regularly uses online social media platforms as virtual galleries, challenging the gatekeeping of traditional museum and gallery spaces and providing a space and a platform for other Belizean creatives to connect with both their community and the wider black diaspora.

Katie Numi Usher’s residency is supported by The Shelagh Wakely Bequest, administered by The Elephant Trust.

Shelagh Wakely (1932 – 2011), was a British artist whose experimental practice combined visual art, sculpture and design with architecture. Wakely travelled widely in South-America, with special interest in Brazil, and her residence in London became a meeting point for Brazilian and Latin American artists.

The Elephant Trust administers the Shelagh Wakely Bequest, and the Shelagh Wakely Residency has been created in partnership with Gasworks to provide an emerging artist from Latin-America with a three-month residency opportunity in London.

Katie's residency also includes a virtual component developed in partnership with Tropical Papers, a platform that disseminates ideas and practices from artists working in, and with, the Tropics.

Gasworks’ online programme is supported by Hélène Nguyen-Ban.