In her paintings, figurative cut-outs and installations, Lubaina Himid approaches questions of identity through the celebration of Black creativity and political agency. In Leave to cool, Staying in and Going out (2020), paintings created during the COVID-19 lockdown, the artist uses complex constellations of colour to explore intimacy and proximity. Watch our Backstory series to explore the story behind an artwork, including its conception, context and meaning in the world. Join curator Omar Kholeif for this video as he speaks about ‘Leave to Cool’ (2020).

Backstory is available in both audio and video formats as part of Sharjah Art Foundation’s new podcast series Speaking of Art. To listen to this as well as other episodes from the series, tune in to Speaking of Art on Apple, Spotify, Google, or wherever you get your podcasts.