Announcing the second cohort of artists to the 20/20 project

Multiple coloured topped tables - red, pink, blue, yellow tops visible - in a stone room with blue painted all at the back and lighting rack above.

Twelve emerging and mid-career artists with an extensive range of practices have been selected as the second cohort of 20/20: a national commissioning and network programme directly investing in the careers of a new generation of ethnically minoritized and diverse artists.

Ulster Museum is one of the host partner museums in the programme.

20/20 was launched in November 2021 by UAL Decolonising Arts Institute, working in partnership with 20 UK public collections, museums and galleries. The project has been generously supported by a £300,000 grant from Freelands Foundation, a £300,000 grant from Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants Programme and funding from UAL.

The project was conceived in response to urgent calls for action within arts and culture in the wake of Black Lives Matter, as social inequities and racial injustices continued to be amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The selected artists work across a diverse range of media, traversing painting, print, photography, filmmaking, animation, drawing, ceramics, and sculpture. They will undertake 15-month paid residencies hosted by partner museums, galleries, and art collections, and participate in a peer support network, to develop their artistic practice. Each residency will lead to the production of a commissioned artwork that will enter the partner’s permanent collection.

The first cohort of 8 artists was announced in September 2021, and their residencies are currently underway, pairing a total of 20 artists with 20 UK collections and resulting in 20 new permanent acquisitions over the life of the project.

Professor susan pui san lok, 20/20 Project Director and Director of the Decolonising Arts Institute said:

“We are thrilled to welcome the second cohort of artists to 20/20. This is an exciting phase in the 20/20 project – our first eight residencies are already in full swing, and it’s been wonderful to support the deepening development of ideas and relationships. We are looking forward to starting journeys with our second cohort of artists, as they delve into collections and help to generate richer understandings of the histories and contributions of overlooked objects and artists in their midst.”

The Ulster Museum artist: Bindi Vora

Bindi Vora is a British-Indian photographic artist, associate lecturer in photography at UAL London College of Communication, and Curator at Autograph, London. Bindi is interested in how ideas of resistance and resilience are influenced by our everyday surroundings often using collage, linguistics, analogue processes, and found photography within her practice. In 2023 she launched her first major publication, Mountain of Salt, published by Perimeter Books. Instagram: @bindi_vora

For the full list of artists and their residency partners, see here.