Hew Locke

An in-depth look at the innovative career of an artist renowned for his multimedia explorations of colonial and postcolonial power

For the past thirty years, Guyanese British artist Hew Locke (b. 1959) has used strategies of appropriation to reveal and upend the visual codes of imperialism. Incorporating sculpture, photography, drawing, and found objects, Locke's oeuvre has been described as a "postcolonial baroque" that deconstructs and reimagines deeply entrenched iconographies of British sovereignty. This richly illustrated catalogue showcases the full spectrum of Locke's practice, bringing together distinct bodies of work that scrutinize the visual language of empire and colonialism's present-day legacies of global market capitalism, migration, and diaspora. Essays from leading curators, critics, and scholars of contemporary art situate Locke's work within the context of colonial and postcolonial history and theory, reveal how his use of nontraditional materials—including cardboard, fabric, beads, sequins, and readymade toys—enables the artist to reflect on his Guyanese-British heritage, and consider how the artist's dense, highly textured, and multilayered works fuse vernacular and formal traditions.

Distributed for the Yale Center for British Art

Exhibition Schedule:

Yale Center for British Art

(October 2, 2025–January 11, 2026)

Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH

(February 13–May 24, 2026)

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

(June 21–September 13, 2026)

About the Author

Martina Droth is Paul Mellon Director of the Yale Center for British Art.

Allie Biswas is a writer and editor based in London.