Remain, Thriving
- Artist: Njideka Akunyili Crosby
- Date: 2018
- Medium: Acrylic paint, transfer print on paper, coloured pencil and pastel on paper
- Dimensions: support: 1925 × 3648 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Remain, Thriving" by Njideka Akunyili Crosby. Created in 2018 for Brixton Underground station, the work is a massive painting on paper—almost four metres wide and two metres tall—filled with collage of transferred photographs. It imagines a living room where the grandchildren of the Windrush generation gather. The walls are covered in bold patterned wallpaper, radiogram, and framed pictures that echo the front rooms of their grandparents. The image pulls from photographs held by the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, including portraits of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Olive Morris. In the background, a television screen shows the 2018 Windrush scandal, reminding us of the political context. Crosby blends acrylic, coloured pencil and pastel with paper collages, creating a layered narrative that speaks to diaspora memory, community, and resilience. Her aim was to give commuters a calm, quiet space that still feels the pulse of Brixton’s history and the hope of its future.
See it in person
Remain, Thriving is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
