Richard Hylton was born in London, England to parents of Caribbean descent in 1960. Following degrees in Fine Art and Art History, culminating in a PhD in 2018 from Goldsmith's, University of London, Hylton has actively engaged in exhibition organisation since the early 1990s, collaborating with various public and independent organisations throughout the UK. In 2021, he was appointed Lecturer in Contemporary Art at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, his research focussing on Black Diasporic art, including African American art and British art history, with an exploration of the intersections between contemporary art, ethnography, and Western museums.
Artist, lecturer, writer and curator, Richard Hylton was born in London, England in 1960 to parents of Caribbean descent. He studied Fine Art at Exeter College of Art and Design (now University of Plymouth) from 1987–90. Subsequently, he was awarded an Arts Council of Great Britain (now Arts Council England) traineeship in exhibition organisation at the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. In 2000, he earned an MA in History of Art at Goldsmiths College, London. Hylton's own practice began with works exploring issues related to race and class, exemplified by his photowork Untitled (1989), which incorporated symbols of economic power. Hylton's primary focus lay in examining the formation of a national identity through a more inclusive perspective. In 1996, Hylton collaborated with Palestinian-born artist Bashir Makhoul on Yo-Yo, Yo Yo, an installation at the Bath International Music Festival that used found film footage to explore symbolic exchange and cross-cultural communication. It included a video loop showing an interaction between a Masai tribesman and a tourist, with sequences alternating between forward and reverse to highlight reciprocal cultural exchange and challenge assumptions about postcolonial dynamics. The loop gradually transformed the initial contact between the two participants, trapping them in a repetitive cycle of interaction. According to art critic John Dovey, in the work the concept of migration was understood 'not as a journey but as a condition of lasting displacement — a state of permanent tourism' (Dovey 1996, p. 98).
Described as ‘one of Britain's more imaginative young curators’ by art critic Robert Clark (Clark 1992), Hylton has organised exhibitions since the early 1990s. He has collaborated with various public and independent institutions, including Oldham Art Gallery, University of Bradford, Autograph, London Metropolitan University, and the London School of Economic, curating and facilitating numerous exhibitions featuring a diverse roster of artists, including Barbara Walker, Ruth Maclennan, Anthony Key, and Eugene Palmer. A significant curatorial project was Imagined Communities, a National Touring Exhibition in 1995, featuring diaspora artists such as Yinka Shonibare and Denzil Forrester. This show brought together artists from London, Paris, Turin, and New York, with many claiming connections through parentage and birth to other geographical locations, such as Nigeria and Russia. By exploring the theme of fragmented and multiple communities, the exhibition challenged the conventional notion of a fixed and historically rooted community. From 1996–99, as a Fellow in Visual Arts, Hylton managed Gallery II at the University of Bradford, overseeing exhibitions and projects, including Tam Joseph - This is History, curated by Eddie Chambers (1998).
As a reviewer for art journals in the UK and USA, Hylton's contributions are characterised by resistance to the imposition of multicultural narratives onto artists, particularly when such narratives label them as 'ethnic'. For instance, he criticised the exhibition Cities on the Move, curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist in 1999, for presenting non-Western artworks as mere artifacts rather than coherent artworks. In Exclusion Zone (Art Monthly, 2013), he emphasised the significance of recent solo exhibitions by African-American artists in London's major galleries and raised questions about curatorial agendas, inclusivity, and representation of Black British artists in the city's art establishment. In Decibel: The Politics of Cultural Diversity (Art Monthly), he addressed concerns about the Arts Council England's Decibel initiative, which aimed to promote ‘cultural diversity’ in the arts. Hylton argued that terms like 'ethnic minority' and 'culturally diverse' are problematic, as they imply a limited notion of difference based on race and ethnicity. Hylton has also contributed to publications including Routledge Companion to African American Art History and a special edition of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, focusing on Black-British Art Histories. In 2002, he co-produced The Holy Bible: Old Testament, an artist book by David Hammons, in collaboration with Virginia Nimarkoh. His publication, The Nature of The Beast (2007), examined the development of cultural policy in Britain between the late 1970s and late 2000s, also discussing some of the key exhibitions of the 1980s that displayed work by Black artists. Hylton has also edited several notable volumes,, including The Best Janette Parris (2002) and Doublethink: The Art of Donald Rodney (2003).
In 2018, Hylton received his PhD from Goldsmiths for his thesis A Labour of Love: The Politics of Presenting Contemporary Art as Part of Commemorations to Mark the United Kingdom’s Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807–2007, in which he argued that the bicentenary's contemporary art programme, rather than being a simple celebration of multiculturalism, exemplified the problematic normalisation of skewed notions of diversity in British society. In 2021, he was appointed Lecturer in Contemporary Art at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London. His teaching and research continues to focus on Black Diasporic art, including African American art and British art history, exploring the intersections between contemporary art, ethnography, and Western museums. Between 2015-18 he curated several shows for the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Richard Hylton]
Publications related to [Richard Hylton] in the Ben Uri Library