My Gurus

Maria Souza and Dr Nima Poovaya Smith

My great Aunt Maria was a force to be reckoned with, a single-minded woman of grace, creative talent, a progressive mind-set and vision. Married to artist Francis Newton Souza, she emigrated with him from Bombay to London in the 1950s. Enduring hardship and rising above any prejudice encountered, she worked tirelessly and with an unstinting belief in her husband’s artistic talent. An excellent seamstress and couturier, she worked for a range of private clients including the editor of Vogue. In the early 70s from the front room in her house in Homer St London W1, she set up Gallery 38 to show, sell and promote Souza’s work and also many seminal contemporary Indian artists of the time. Later she gave her support to the setting up of other galleries for the promotion of Black artists such as the Horizon Gallery, to which I became a frequent visitor. This was a side of intercultural Britain I came to know and experience through art.

As I started out in my career post university, Maria was a great inspiration and role model. She was delighted that I was awarded an Arts Council England bursary in 1988 to train in exhibition curation with a focus on Black art. After all she had done to pave the way, Black artists still found themselves excluded, relatively ignored and in the margins. Encouraged by her example, I became involved in championing cultural diversity at Cartwright Hall in Bradford, with support and training from another woman curator Nima Poovaya Smith – a formidable intellect with incredible persuasive powers. In 1988/89 you could count the number of professional Black people employed in the whole museum sector on one hand. During Nima’s tenure at Cartwright Hall she began a remarkable new collection of art, craft and objects that would define a fresh and intelligently nuanced view of cultural diversity. I learnt from her skill and perspective in curating objects in a way that connected cultures, offering shared as well as distinct ideas about our place in the world and the human condition.