Dam Van Huynh has been commissioned by Certain Blacks to create a new work for their 2026 Festival ‘Black Athena’.
Certain Blacks is an arts development organisation based in Newham, East London. Founded in 2015 by Clive Lyttle, it focuses on supporting diverse artists and bringing “art from the margins into the mainstream”.
The work in progress – Graffiti Bodies XV – will be presented at Rich Mix – London on Saturday 14 March 2026, 7.30pm. For this new creation, Dam is joined by long term collaborators vocalist, movement artist and composer Elaine Mitchener and Sound Designer Michael Picknett.
Following a commission by Fruitmarket – Edinburgh, they recently premiered Moving Eastman and Graffiti Bodies II. With this new commission by Certain Blacks – Graffiti Bodies XV – Dam continues his reflexion on the theme of marginalisation, sparking a discussion on who controls the narratives and who possesses the authority to tell their stories. This new piece is inspired by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work La Hara (1981) which addresses the police brutality faced by marginalised urban communities in New York in the 1980s. Basquiat challenged conventional narratives, questioned power structures and gave voice to diverse communities. He was called a “graffiti artist” by some to ostracise his art from the “high art” canon. Reflecting on this, Van Huynh reclaims the word ‘graffiti’ as a form of empowerment for himself and other marginalised voices, shaping their own narratives. Through a sensory overload of movement and a cacophony of sound and visual noise, the work – performed by Elaine Mitchener – reflects on Basquiat’s social commentary, urging us to resist the cyclical nature of history.
More information:
www.certainblacks.com