Hew Locke and Dr Gus Casely-Hayford

Guyanese-British artist Hew Locke discusses his new public artwork, Foreign Exchange (2022), with Dr Gus Casely-Hayford. Together they consider Locke’s reimagining of Birmingham’s city-centre sculpture of Queen Victoria.

Supported by Birmingham Cathedral and Birmingham 2022 Festival.

Following the talk there will be a free concert with musician Germa Adan, presented by Celebrating Sanctuary Birmingham (CSB).

This event is part of The Migrant Festival 2022 and Ikon’s Arrivals programme for Summer 2022, concerned with the international movement of people and ideas and organised to coincide with the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

About the speakers

Hew Locke was born in Edinburgh in 1959, lived in Georgetown, Guyana, from 1966 to 1980, and is currently based in London. He is an Royal Academician and obtained a B.A. Fine Art in Falmouth (1988) and an M.A. Sculpture at the Royal College of Art, London (1994). His work is represented in many international collections including those of The Government Art Collection, The Pérez Art Museum Miami, The Tate Gallery, The Arts Council of England, The National Trust, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, The New Art Gallery Walsall, The Victoria & Albert Museum, The Imperial War Museum, The British Museum and The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds. His work The Procession is currently on view at Tate Britain as part of their annual Commission series, and forthcoming projects include The Met Museum’s 2022 Facade Commission.

Ikon presented a major exhibition by Hew Locke, Here’s The Thing, in 2019.

Dr Gus Casely-Hayford OBE is the inaugural Director of V&A East, appointed in March 2020, and Professor of Practice, SOAS, University of London. He is a curator and cultural historian who writes, lectures and broadcasts widely on culture, having presented a number of series for Sky, BBC radio and television and other channels. Formerly Executive Director of Arts Strategy, Arts Council England, and Ex-Director of the Institute of International Contemporary Art, he has offered leadership to both large and medium scale organisations including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Casely-Hayford has served on the boards of many cultural institutions, including the National Trust and the National Portrait Gallery. He is a Cultural Fellow of King’s College London, a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, a Board Member of the Creative Industries Federation and a Trustee of the Karun Thakur Foundation.