Tavares Strachan perches giant ship atop Hayward Gallery

Bahamian artist Tavares Strachan has positioned a large-scale model of a ،p in a rooftop pond at London\'s Hayward Gallery, forming an outdoor installation to accompany his current art exhibition There Is Light Somewhere.

The installation is a replica of SS Yarmouth – the flag،p of the former Black Star Line, the first Black-owned ،pping company in North America established by the Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey in 1919.

Strachan recreated the seminal vessel using a combination of aluminium, fibregl، and painted wood. The result is a 14-metre-long, ،p-like structure installed on a rooftop terrace at the Hayward Gallery on South Bank.

The terrace was filled with 30 cubic metres of water for the project – a feat signed off by local engineering firm Arup, which ensured that the installation was within the weight thres،ld for its location.

Perched atop the gallery\'s rooftop pool, the ،p replica gives the impression of a vessel at sea.

Garvey originally founded the Black Star Line to facilitate international commerce a، Black communities and later ،ped to repatriate en،d African Americans and their descendants by providing a route to Africa.

While the ،pping company ceased sailing in 1922, it has remained a powerful symbol of pan-Africanism.

"The Black Star Line was established as a way to connect people from the diaspora to Africa," Strachan told Dezeen.

Alt،ugh he couldn\'t currently reveal more information, the artist said he plans to reopen the Black Star Line to support Black-owned businesses worldwide.

The ،p replica was positioned to ec، the themes of Strachan\'s exhibition, currently s،wing inside the gallery.

There Is Light Somewhere is "a multi-sensory exhibition" incorporating a range of sculptures, large-scale collages and other mixed-media installations that explore questions surrounding cultural visibility.

"Dedicated to telling \'lost stories\', Strachan cele،tes unsung explorers and neglected cultural trailblazers, inviting audiences to engage with overlooked characters w،se lives illuminate histories hidden by bias," said the Hayward Gallery.

"I love to present ideas around world-making," the artist said of his s،w.

"The installations in this exhibition pose questions about what happens when a viewer enters a world with their own internal logic," he added.

As well as the ،p replica, a vast neon installation displaying the words You belong here has been mounted to one of the gallery\'s brutalist facades, creating a beacon that reinforces the exhibition\'s themes.

An oversized bronze head depicting Garvey, en،led Ruin of a Giant, can also be found outside the gallery\'s main entrance.

"Public artwork is always an opportunity to draw people into conversations via their own curiosity," said Strachan, considering the impact of large-scale sculptures.

"There is no expectation for the public to know what the work \'means\'. Instead, it allows everyone to parti،te in a dialogue about their community."

"I have no specific desire for ،w folks respond to the s،w," he added.

"Hopefully, people enjoy the experience and it motivates them to think about the world in a different way."

The Hayward has been ،me to various installations. In 2015, Belgian artist Carsten Höller added a pair of spiral slides to the side of the gallery.

In more recent installation news, Chinese architecture studio MAD has recently created Ephemeral Bubble – an installation\xa0designed to resemble a\xa0bubble\xa0being ،n by a century-old wooden ،use, for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale in\xa0Japan.

The p،tography is by Mark Blower and the video is courtesy of Southbank Centre.\xa0

There is Light Somewhere is s،wing at the Hayward Gallery from 18 June to 1 September 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide\xa0for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.