Today I have to break my usual rules for posting on Vandalog. I’m trying to stick to cover “street artists” and not “urban artists,” but I have to make an exception for this. It would make no sense to ignore Matt Small’s upcoming solo show at Black Rat Projects. That I May See is a show based on Matt’s trip to the Robert Shitima School in Kabwe, Zambia and it opens next Thursday (September 9th). Matt, Swoon, Mike Snelle (who runs Black Rat) and I spent some time at the Shitima school earlier this year. You can check out my video of the trip here, but Mike’s post about the trip on Arrested Motion is probably the best place to learn about what we did and where we were.
Since getting back to London, Matt has been painting portraits of students that we met in Zambia, and those will be shown for the first time at That I May See. This is a really special show to me, because my mother and sister are very involved with the Shitima School and having visited myself, I have seen just how vital their work is. Anyone who has met Matt knows what a kind person he is, so it should come as little surprise that Matt and Black Rat Projects have kindly decided to donate 40% of the proceeds from sales to the school. Unlike a lot of charity art shows where a hodge-podge of artists donate work that has been sitting around their studio for a year or two, this really is a proper solo show from a talented artist, and it happens to also be supporting a great cause.
If you’re in London next Thursday, I hope you have a chance to check out this show.