Press
Press/ Publications

Birmingham welcomes The World Reimagined trail
12 August 2022
The trail was launched in St Philip’s Square where the sculptures Dear Archives by Glory Samjolly and Unity by Gabriel Choto were unveiled. Each of the 10 globes have been designed by an individual artist based on themes including Mother Africa, Still We Rise and Expanding Soul.

New York Times: An Artist Shines Light on the Black Aristocracy
29 April 2022
Her paintings were conceived as a retort to the dearth of Black nobles in historical European portraiture, she said in an interview from her home in London. It has been and still is “such a rarity to find Afro-Europeans who aren’t slaves or shown as servants in the background of a painting, or featured as decoration,”

BBC: The African figures 'forgotten' by England's cultural past
9 June 2021
Samjolly, who created the social enterprise Black Aristocratic Art in 2019 to 'decolonise' the mainstream art history curriculum, says: "There is not enough representation of African Europeans in historical galleries or textbooks, and most often when they are represented it is as slaves, servants or abolitionists.

The Guardian: Tailcoat, cravat… artists celebrate stories of notable black Britons
5 June 2021
The imposing ruin of Kirby Hall, a 16th-century country house in rural Northamptonshire, might not be the most obvious setting for a contemporary exhibition on why black lives matter.
His presence in the room is remarkable. Chappell is dressed in the aristocratic fashion of the period – red tailcoat, fussy cravat – and sits on an ornate baroque chair, eyes proudly fixed ahead, his afro in full bloom.

Afro Leads: Black Aristocratic Art
15 March 2021
What we resonated with instantly, was that Black Aristocrat Art aims to remove the misconception that Black history started with the transatlantic slave trade. It paints a more accurate picture of the nobility that have been white washed and silenced through history.

Memoirs by Chard: Memoir I - The Aristocrats of the present:
7 November 2020
In terms of how she would describe her work, Glory states it’s a combination of both feminism and cultural activism. “Not only am I trying to challenge who I am, but I’m also trying to challenge racist stereotypes within art history. I also want to strip away the patriarchal lens in art”.

The Net Gallery: Interview, Wimbledon College of Arts 2020 Graduate, Glory Samjolly
29 August 2020
I had ideas for paintings that I could not complete, prints and canvases I could not make, that I planned to make before I left. I planned to enter a competition that involved showing my paintings in China. Our degree show and graduation was cancelled, two of the most significant events a final year artist can look forward to.

Creative Review: UAL kicks off graduate showcase with expansive event series
27 July 2020
This year has seen the creative industries thrown into flux. The global coronavirus pandemic has disrupted livelihoods and upended the way we work, and more recently, the issue of inequality in the arts has been thrust under the microscope.

The Liberators Podcast: Using Black Aristocratic Art As A Channel For Feminine Expression with Artist Glory Samjolly
10 April 2020
This Friday’s interview is the 21st instalment in the Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy block of podcasts. It will focus on the theme Using Black Aristocratic Art as a Channel for Feminine Expression