Damian Le Bas
Artist, Gypsyland/Worthing (1963-2017)
Damian Le Bas (b.1963, Sheffield, d.2017, Worthing) established a diverse practice across textile, collage, painting and performance, consistently resisting categorization. After completing an MA at The Royal College of Art, London, he exhibited at various venues including Galerie Kai Dikhas, Berlin (2016), Kunstahalle Kallio, Helsinki (2012), the Venice Biennale (2007), the Prague Biennale (2007), documenta 15, Kassel (2022) and Whitechapel Gallery, London (2023).
Le Bas worked closely with Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin on numerous projects including artwork for a musical titled ‘Roma Armee’. He collaborated with his wife Delaine Le Bas to create ‘Safe European Home?’, a series of installations exhibited across Europe since 2011 that explore identity, migration and borders. Challenging stereotypes and marginalization, he initiated the Roma Biennale, which is dedicated to the art of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and other communities and came to fruition posthumously in Berlin in 2018.
Both Damian and Delaine Le Bas were Artists at Risk (AR)-Residents in Helsinki and participated in the Perpetuum Gypsy/Roma Pavilion in Venice in 2009.