Ghosts of Empires II exhibition explores diasporic survival through 14 artists at Ben Brown Fine Arts

Curator Larry Ossei-Mensah discusses Ghosts of Empires II, an exhibition at Ben Brown Fine Arts in London running through 22 October. The show features 14 artists with diasporic connections to formerly colonized regions, examining shared experiences of thriving under imperialism. Inspired by Kwasi Kwarteng's 2010 book, the exhibition evolved from an initial focus on the African diaspora to include Asian diasporic artists after conversations with Didier William. Ossei-Mensah highlights how imperial tactics like Britain's demonization of Nigerian palm wine persist in cultural forms like London's Notting Hill Carnival. He notes that diasporic communities sometimes hold outdated images of their homelands, as described in Anuk Arudpragasam's novel about Sri Lanka. Art offers tangible connections to memory and agency beyond academic discourse, allowing imaginative possibilities outside immediate reality. Theaster Gates exemplifies using art market resources for community reinvestment in Chicago's South Side. Artist selection involved recommendations from figures like Tammy Nguyen, who suggested Adam De Boer, and expanded to include Cambodian-American Tidawhitney Lek and Filipino-American artists Jeanne F. Jalandoni and Maia Cruz Palileo. Ossei-Mensah aims to use commercial gallery platforms to introduce new voices while implicating American imperial participation alongside European histories.