‘We are stolen artefacts, physically, mentally, artistically. Even today we are still seen and contextualised by everyone else but ourselves… Artistically I continue to question this’.
– Delaine Le Bas
Part installation and part archive display, the objects of House of Le Bas relate to the shared life and experiences of artists Delaine Le Bas (b.1965, UK) and her late husband Damian Le Bas (1963 – 2017, UK) and their perspective as English Romani Gypsy Travellers.
Running through a diverse range of media, artwork, journals, photographs, embroidery and a record collection are stories that resist stereotypes and question what it means to be an ‘outsider’. A centrepiece of these diverse materials, Delaine Le Bas’ painting Meet Your Neighbours – (Engrained) Woven Into The Fabric Of Our Society (2005) portrays both artists alongside stitched and collaged items of personal significance. The work incorporates texts and headlines into the artwork that relates to the two artists’ experiences of policies and attitudes hostile to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK.
Delaine Le Bas will activate items from the exhibition on selected dates. The House of Le Bas will be accompanied by Soul Bag, an event taking place on 16 March celebrating the work of the two artists through an evening of Soul music, dancing and journeys into the archive.
To accompany The House of Le Bas, artist Delaine Le Bas has selected tracks inspired by the display and her practice, listen on Spotify here.
Whitechapel Gallery London
24 January – 4 June 2023