My Mother Earth Is Black Like Me (Mama Earth)
John Lyons, 1988
John Lyons’ pastel drawing My Mother Earth Is Black Like Me (Mama Earth) shows a figure cocooned in the ground with rolling hills and clouds in the background.
The artist has previously said that the inspiration for the picture came from his experience standing on a patch of ground at the back of a house in London soon after his arrival from the Caribbean in 1959. He remembers the thought that struck him at the time: ‘I have a right to be here, to belong to this planet Earth wherever I am.’
Born in Trinidad, Lyons came to London to study art at Goldsmiths’ College. He later worked as a teacher in Manchester while continuing his career as an artist and poet. In the 1980s, he began using his heritage directly in his paintings and drawings, with references to his homeland’s folklore, beliefs and rituals.
My Mother Earth joins the collection at the Whitworth. In 2024 the gallery staged a retrospective of Lyons’ work spanning six decades.
More information
Title of artwork, date
My Mother Earth Is Black Like Me (Mama Earth), 1988
Date supported
2025
Medium and material
Pastel on paper
Dimensions
45.5 x 52cm
Grant
15,000
Total cost
28,333
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