Work of the Week: Nick Cave’s Soundsuits Shortly after midnight on 3 March 1991, Rodney King, a 25-year-old, unemployed construction worker, is pulled over by police for speeding in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. What followed was a brutal beating by four LAPD officers at the scene. For Nick Cave, watching the footage on TV of King’s assault felt like a ‘slap’ – a painful reminder of his own vulnerability as a Black male in America. In response, the artist began to make the first of his soundsuits, which today number 500+. Part sculpture, costume and armour, the soundsuits are made from a dizzying array of materials, including beaded necklaces, embroidered flowers, stuffed animals, vintage toys and ceramic figurines. Named after the sounds they make when worn by performers, they conceal the identity of the wearer while encouraging movement and creating noise that reflects their materials and construction. They transform the body, altering height and proportions, and turning the epidermal exterior into patterned fantasia. The vivacity of Cave’s creations defies attempts to reduce the Black body to caricature, as was the case with Rodney King, or to reinforce the ‘Western equation’ of Blackness with ‘ugliness, evil, corruption, and death’. And their visibility signals an insistence on the fact that the Black body should be seen on its own terms, without apology or explanation. ——- 📝 Written extract from Ekow Eshun (@ekoweshun) - the complete text can be found in the #ExhibitionCatalogue for In the Black Fantastic published by Hayward Gallery Publishing & Thames & Hudson 🛍️The catalogue can now be purchased from the Southbank Centre Shop 🔗 Link in bio ——— 📸 Installation view of Nick Cave’s work, In the Black Fantastic at Hayward Gallery, 2022. Photography Credit: Zeinab Batchelor #NickCave [@nickcaveart] #WorkOfTheWeek #Soundsuit #Soundsuits #Costume #Sculpture #WearableSculpture #RodneyKing #CivilRights #LARiots #Afrofuturism #Folklore #Mythology #ScienceFiction #SciFi #Installation #Art #BlackArt #BlackArtist #Gallery #HaywardGallery #SouthbankCentre