Hew Locke: The Procession, Plan your visit to Boston!

A procession is part of life; people gather and move together to celebrate, worship, protest, mourn, escape, or call for change. These expressions are all at the heart of The Procession, an ambitious installation first commissioned by Tate Britain, UK, and making its North American debut at the ICA Watershed.

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Through his multivalent practice, Hew Locke OBE RA (born 1959 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom; lives and works in London) explores individual and collective relationships to power, cultural memory, and migration. The artist spent his formative years in the then newly independent country of Guyana, a former British colony, where he became fascinated by the symbols through which individuals and groups assert their identities. His work has touched on a wide array of subjects, from British colonialism and Caribbean carnival to political iconographies and public monuments. He investigates these ideas through materials such as cardboard, costume jewelry, and repurposed emblems of British identity, creating elaborate artworks with layered and expansive meanings that engage with the histories and contemporary legacies of colonialism and empire.

Drawing upon a series of motifs and concerns that have occupied the artist over decades, The Procession is a colorful gathering of approximately 140 life-size sculptures of masked figures of all ages and abilities adorned in printed fabrics and embroideries—Caribbean carnival queens, dancers, refugees, horseback-mounted military figures, fishers, laborers, pregnant women, children, drummers, and flag bearers. The forward-facing figures carry props or wear costumes that reproduce imagery from historical paintings, advertisements, share certificates, maps, and photographs, including reproductions of the artist’s own work. Poetic and powerful, this installation draws on the metaphor of the voyage to, in the artist’s words, “reflect on the cycles of history, and the ebb and flow of cultures, people, finance, and power.” Seen within the harborside setting of the ICA Watershed in East Boston, The Procession is a compelling and immersive invitation for visitors to cross historical and narrative time in an experience that delights the eyes and expands the mind.

The ICA Watershed is a seasonal exhibition space located in a formerly condemned copper pipe factory that is transformed every summer with a new exhibition.

Cost: access to the ICA Watershed is free but you’ll need to pay for a water taxi ticket and parking.

Tickets to use the ICA Water Shuttle service between the Watershed in East Boston and the ICA in the Seaport can be reserved online or at either location (free for members!) and include general museum admission to the ICA. Advance reservations for the Water Shuttle are strongly recommended, as we cannot guarantee ticket availability day-of. View our calendar and select Water Shuttle + General Museum Admission to reserve your spot on the boats.

Exhibit ends Sept 23, 2024

Read Boston Globe review here