Sonia Boyce

Dame
Sonia Boyce
DBE RA
Born
Sonia Dawn Boyce

1962 (age 61–62)
London, England
Education
Notable work
MovementUK Black Arts Movement
PartnerDavid A. Bailey
Children2
AwardsGolden Lion at the 59th Venice Biennale (2022)
ElectedRoyal Academy of Arts (2016)
Websitesoniaboyce.net

Dame Sonia Dawn Boyce DBE RA (born 1962[1]) is a British Afro-Caribbean artist and educator who lives and works in London. She is a Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London.[2] Boyce's research interests explore art as a social practice and the critical and contextual debates that arise from this area of study. Boyce has been closely collaborating with other artists since 1990 with a focus on collaborative work, frequently involving improvisation and unplanned performative actions on the part of her collaborators. Boyce's work involves a variety of media, such as drawing, print, photography, video, and sound. Her art explores "the relationship between sound and memory, the dynamics of space, and incorporating the spectator".[3] To date, Boyce has taught Fine Art studio practice for more than 30 years in several art colleges across the UK.[3]

In March 2016, Boyce was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in London, becoming the first black female Royal Academician since the academy's founding in 1768.[4]

In February 2020, Boyce was selected by the British Council to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale 2022, the first black woman to do so.[5] In April 2022, Boyce won the Venice Biennale's top Golden Lion prize with her work Feeling Her Way.[6]

  1. ^ Great Women Artists. Phaidon Press. 2019. p. 74. ISBN 978-0714878775.
  2. ^ Banks, Tom (3 January 2014). "UAL appoints nine new cross-university heads". Design Week.
  3. ^ a b Boyce, Sonia. "Professor Sonia Boyce: TrAIN Member". Transnational. University of the Arts London. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  4. ^ Wickham, Annette (13 May 2018). "A "female invasion" 250 years in the making". Royal Academy of Arts (RA). Archived from the original on 9 February 2023.
  5. ^ Sanderson, David (12 February 2020). "Sonia Boyce becomes first Black woman to represent Britain at Venice Biennale". The Times. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  6. ^ Connett, David (23 April 2022). "British artist Sonia Boyce wins Golden Lion at Venice Biennale". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2022.