Artist Tavares Strachan on his travels to the North Pole, space and putting a ship on the Hayward Gallery: ‘You find solace in the extreme’
Anyone walking over Waterloo Bridge during the past week may have been surprised to see an ocean liner on top of the Hayward Gallery.
It was put there by Tavares Strachan, who has been described as “one of the most compelling, imaginative and audacious artists of his generation”. It’s not hard to see why.
He has travelled to the North Pole for his art, launched a sculpture into orbit, produced his own encyclopedia, and then there’s the ship, which will be one of the most viewed artworks in London for the next few months.
“Think of art as a giant arrow to point to an idea,” he says. “With the ship on the roof, it’s about asking: what is this? Why is this? Who would be motivated to do such a thing and why? For me the big deal is curiosity.”
Part of his practice is telling the stories of lost, forgotten and ignored black pioneers. The story behind the ship is of Marcus Garvey, an important voice against racial violence
