Two ambitious new commissions, supported through the inaugural round of the Jerwood Art Fund Commissions, will see two of the UK’s most exciting contemporary artists Sekai Machache and Julianknxx create new works that aim to enrich UK public collections and inspire conversations about cultural identity, history, and belonging.
The University of Aberdeen has been awarded funding to commission a new tapestry for the Sir Duncan Rice Library in collaboration with Zimbabwean-Scottish visual artist Sekai Machache and Dovecot Studios,the world-renowned tapestry studio in Edinburgh. The work will draw inspiration from the University’s extensive collections which span Scottish history, archaeology, science and global cultures.
Tate Liverpool, in partnership with the International Slavery Museum, has received funding to commission a groundbreaking multidisciplinary installation by poet, filmmaker, and visual artist Julianknxx. The work will explore the complex experiences of Black communities in European port cities, weaving together poetry, film, music, and performance.
A new partnership between Art Fund and Jerwood Foundation – Jerwood Art Fund Commissions – provides critical support for museums and galleries to commission early to mid-career artists. The programme aims to further artists at pivotal stages in their careers, while enriching public collections through new contemporary art, ensuring they remain dynamic and representative of contemporary society.
The commissions build on Jerwood Foundation and Art Fund’s long-standing, shared commitment to fund new art and highlight the transformative power of collections in keeping museums vibrant spaces of engagement, learning, and artistic ambition – an essential role amid growing economic challenges.
Jenny Waldman, Director, Art Fund, said:
“Commissioning contemporary artists to create new work brings a fresh dynamic and perspective to museum collections. In today’s challenging economic landscape, dedicated support for commissions is more important than ever. Art Fund is delighted to be working in partnership with Jerwood Foundation to support these two ambitious inaugural commissions, which will inspire audiences in Aberdeen and Liverpool with powerful and thought-provoking storytelling. “
Lara Wardle, Executive Director and Trustee, Jerwood Foundation, said:
“I am delighted that, in the first year of Jerwood Foundation’s partnership with Art Fund, two exciting and bold commissions by Sekai Machache and Julianknxx will be realised. Through Jerwood Art Fund Commissions museums and galleries can bring ambitious projects to fruition, which will enrich our national collections and provide crucial support to early and mid-career artists. This important partnership with Art Fund underlines Jerwood’s ongoing commitment to support excellence in the arts in the UK.”
The Aberdeen Tapestry (working title, 2025), Sekai Machache and Dovecot Studios – University of Aberdeen Collections
Sekai Machache is a Zimbabwean-Scottish visual artist, film-maker and curator based in Glasgow, Scotland. Known for her interest in spirituality and imagination, her practice often engages with themes of history, identity, and the visibility of Black communities in Scotland.
Dovecot Studios and Sekai Machache began collaborating in 2022 with a tapestry for the exhibition Scottish Women Artists: 250 Years of Challenging Perception. The new commission is an opportunity to develop their collaborative practice and take inspiration from the University of Aberdeen Collections, recognised as a Nationally Significant Collection by the Scottish Government.
Machache and Dovecot will initially work with the University teams to investigate and to engage with the Collections, which span Scottish history and archaeology, the natural, medical and physical sciences, and World Culture. This research will inform both the artist’s and the Dovecot weavers’ approach to the commission and provide opportunities for wider public engagement.
Once Machache’s design for the tapestry is agreed, visitors to Dovecot in Edinburgh will be able to observe the weaving process, as the tapestry is created live in the Studios’ public viewing space. The tapestry will be unveiled at the University of Aberdeen’s Sir Duncan Rice Library by early 2026.
Lisa Collinson (University of Aberdeen Collections) said:
“This is an exciting opportunity for the University to work with a contemporary artist with a growing reputation and to collaborate with the artists at the world-renowned Dovecot Studios. We look forward to Sekai exploring the University’s collections as well as thinking about the challenging legacies they embody.
“The project also offers the chance for the University community to engage with the process of creating a new work of contemporary art inspired by the collections and we look forward to displaying the finished piece – and incorporating it into the collections so it can inspire generations to come.”
Chorus in Rememory of Flight – Liverpool (working title, 2028), Julianknxx – Tate and International Slavery Museum
Julianknxx is a Sierra Leonean-born, UK-based poet, visual artist, and filmmaker. This new commission continues his project Chorus in Rememory of Flight,debuted at the Barbican in 2023, for which Knxx spent 12 months travelling through various European port cities to explore their distinctive transitory nature. This new Liverpool commission – the artist’s first outside of London – will expand on this project, marking a major milestone in the artist’s career.
Spanning four years of engagement with local communities, and research into Liverpool’s rich history of Black cultural movements, the installation will culminate in two immersive, multichannel video and sound installations, exploring themes of migration, displacement, and memory – one at Tate Liverpool and another at the International Slavery Museum from 2028.
With both venues currently closed to the public while they undergo major capital redevelopments, this commission will be an exciting addition to each of their future displays.
Carine Harmand, The John Ellerman Foundation Curator at Tate Liverpool and International Slavery Museum, said:
“We are delighted that Julianknxx will lend his profound ability to weave together complex cultural narratives to create this new work and invite deeper reflection on the Black diasporic experience.
“This first co-commission between Tate Liverpool and the International Slavery Museum is an important moment in their artistic collaboration. Both organisations are based on Liverpool’s Royal Albert Dock, an area steeped in the history of trade with Africa and transatlantic slavery. A history that is deeply felt in Liverpool, as the home to one of the oldest Black communities in Europe.”
Applications for the second round of Jerwood Art Fund Commissions open on 1st May 2025. For more information, visit: HERE
Museums can also apply for Art Fund’s rolling Commissions grants programme, which supports projects that have significant public impact. For more information, visit: HERE
About the artists
Sekai Machache (she/they, b.1989) is a Zimbabwean-Scottish visual artist and curator based in Glasgow, Scotland. Her work is a deep interrogation of the notion of self, in which Photography plays a crucial role in supporting an exploration of the historical and cultural imaginary.
Aspects of her photographic practice are formulated through digital studio-based compositions utilising body paint and muted lighting to create images that appear to emerge from darkness.
In recent works, she expands to incorporate other media including film, creating what she terms ‘Immersive Projects’ embedded with multi-layered and multi-disciplinary processes. These works aim to evoke and illuminate that which is invisible and undocumented. She is interested in the relationship between spirituality, dreaming and the role of the artist in disseminating symbolic imagery to provide a space for healing against contexts of colonialism and loss.
Sekai works internationally and often collaboratively, for and with her community and is a founding and organising member of the Yon Afro Collective (YAC).
In 2024 Sekai Machache was invited to collaborate as part of Undone presented by The Pavilion of Zimbabwe as part of the 60th Venice Art Biennale.
Julianknxx (b. 1987) is a Sierra Leonean-born, UK-based poet, visual artist, and filmmaker whose multidisciplinary practice explores themes of memory, migration, identity, and belonging, centring the experiences of the African diaspora.
His artistic approach is deeply informed by his personal life, having fled Sierra Leone during its civil war before settling in the UK. Knxx often meditates on the intersections of African and Western cultures, addressing how history, trauma, and resilience shape diasporic identities.
His projects include immersive visual poetry and performance installations at the Southbank Centre, ICA London, and Stedelijk in Amsterdam. Knxx was included in A World in Common, Tate Modern (2023), Wereld Museum, Rotterdam (2024), Whitechapel Gallery Open (2022) with his first institutional solo exhibition Chorus in Rememory of Flight at the Barbican Centre (2023).
