A second-generation West Indian, based in UK, Alvin Kofi’s career has been strongly associated with the Black UK arts movement. His creative perspective is very much African-centred through which the Black body becomes his muses as he explores traditional notions of African culture and their place in the historical narrative of the Diaspora. 

 

Kofi's paintings re-examine universal themes drawing from those ancient mythological stories that he feels still have relevance today.  Exploring these themes he plays with the representation of ideas repositioning and replacing black bodies in the conversation of how we tell stories our history past and present. 

 

Recognised as a major contributor to the Black visual arts in the UK, he is one of the individuals presented as 'Caribbean Influencers', a collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and The Museum of Croydon.  As part of Windrush 75 commemoration events, he is leading a portrait mentoring project,  'Memories of our Future’, with Lambeth Council encouraging the next generation to re-examine the contribution the Windrush generation made to UK culture. 

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In 2020, Kofi was a finalist in the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Award, one of only two black artists to reach the finals. Further commissions include the creation of a globe for the prestigious national project ‘The World Reimagined’ conceptualised by Yinka Shonibare in 2022 improving our understanding of the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade and its lasting impact on the political and social environments we live in today.

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Also recently completed is a larger work commissioned by the organisation Hospital Rooms for whom he created a mural supported by written text for the brand new cutting edge Springfield Hospital due to be open later this year.

 

Regularly returning back to portraiture, he was a highly-commended artist participating in the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize 2021 online exhibition; and the portrait of his son, entitled ‘Emanuel’, was shown at the Black Cultural Archives’ 2023 exhibition celebrating 40 years of Black UK arts.

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