A major survey of Donald Locke's work, titled "Resistant Forms," has opened at Spike Island in Bristol, England, in collaboration with Ikon Gallery in Birmingham and Camden Art Centre in London. Featuring over 80 works spanning five decades, the exhibition includes early biomorphic ceramics, monochromatic black paintings from the 1970s, collage paintings, mixed-media sculptures, and personal writings and photographs. Highlights include the black paintings series addressing colonial subjugation, such as "The Cage" (1976–79), and later whimsical works like "Reconstructed Bottle with Pearls #11 (Pearls for Mahalia)" (2008). The show traces Locke's journey from his birth in Guyana, his time in the UK as part of the Windrush Generation, and his eventual move to the US, where he lived until his death in 2010.
This exhibition matters because it brings long-overdue recognition to Donald Locke, an artist whose restless, cross-medium practice has been difficult to categorize within conventional art history. By foregrounding his sociopolitical engagement—particularly how his "Black Paintings" and geometric forms respond to the plantation system and colonial legacies—the show positions Locke as a significant figure in postwar art. The collaboration among three major UK institutions also signals a growing institutional commitment to reassessing overlooked artists from the Caribbean diaspora, making this survey a critical contribution to expanding the canon.