UMAR RASHID, US

Born 1976, Chicago, Illinois. Lives and works in Los Angeles.

The artist draws with ink and acrylic on paper, often stained with colonial products like tea and coffee, to illustrate alternative historical narratives. Much of his work centres around the “Frenglish Empire (1648-1880)” a semi-fictionalised amalgamation of the French and English colonial powers which encompassed large swathes of the planet over this time period. Rashid focuses on the stories and perspectives of people of colour, who have often been marginalized and omitted from the historical records. These reclaimed and reinvented narratives explore the intricacies of race, gender, class, and overall power in the colonial world. Maps, flags, diagrams, body art and various kinds of iconography form the visual language of these scenes, mixed in with contemporary and historical references to pop culture, hip hop and revolutionary movements, and often alluding to cosmology, religion and spirituality.