September 29th: Today's Feature - Dr Pogus Caesar/Artist

September

Dr. Pogus Caesar (born 1953) is a British artist, archivist, author, curator, television producer and director. He was born in St Kitts, West Indies, and grew up in Birmingham, England.

Early life

Pogus Caesar was born on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts. At an early age, came to Birmingham in Britain. He took up painting seriously in his early 20s. Caesar developed his own variation of Pointillism.

Career

During the early 1980s, Caesar was appointed director of the West Midlands Minority Arts Service. He was the first chairman of Birmingham International Film & Television Festival. For the Arts Council of Great Britain he curated with Lubaina Himid and contributed to exhibitions by Black artists, including Into the Open (1984) and Caribbean Expressions in Britain (1986).

In the late 1980s, Caesar began working in British television – originally as a journalist on Channel 4's Black on Black, then as Series Producer, Director and Series Editor of entertainment, sport and multicultural programmes for Central Television, Carlton Television and BBC. Radio programmes include Mr & Mrs Smith BRMB Radio and The Windrush E. Smith Show, BBC West Midlands.

In 1993 Caesar founded a production company, Windrush Productions. In 1995 Caesar was responsible for Carlton Television's multi cultural output - programmes including Respect, Drumbeat and the award-winning multicultural series Xpress. In 1995 Caesar was awarded the 'Prix Circom Regionale' for Series producing and directing the Central Television series Xpress.

As a photographer and artist Caesar has worked in Spain, India, South America, Sweden, Denmark, South Africa, Albania, and Jamaica, documenting diverse communities. Caesar's artwork and photographs have been acquired by the U.S National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), National Portrait Gallery, Mappin Art Gallery in Sheffield, Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, and represent important visual documents recording key figures in black British history.

He was awarded the Westmore Ezekiel Award in 2010 by Birmingham Black International Film Festival for his contribution to British television. Caesar's first publication, Muzik Kinda Sweet, is a photography book featuring black musicians including Lee "Scratch" Perry, Stevie Wonder and Grace Jones. The foreword for the book was written by Paul Gilroy and it was published by OOM Gallery Archive in 2010.

Caesar's second book, Sparkbrook Pride (2011), consists of 70 black-and-white photos of residents of Sparkbrook. The book has a foreword written by Benjamin Zephaniah and an introduction by Paris-based photographer Nigel Dickinson. The limited edition photobook Handsworth Riots 1985, documenting the 1985 Handsworth riots in the Handsworth district of Birmingham was published in 2020.

In 2015, Caesar's photograph documenting the Handsworth riots of 1985 was presented by the Victoria & Albert Museum at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Caesar was featured in Jacqui MacDonald's book Portraits of Black Achievement: composing successful careers' (Lifetime Careers Ltd, 2001). The book included extended interviews with 70 black achievers, describing what it means to be black in Britain today.

In 2022, Caesar was named in CasildART's list of the top six Black British photographers, including Charlie Phillips, Armet Francis, Neil Kenlock and James Barnor. Caesar also became a director of the Positive View Foundation. The charity supports the most deprived 16–25 year olds living on our most challenging estates - their upbringing having led them to negative consequences, both for themselves and others amongst their community.

DACS UK and ARS (Artist Rights Society) New York represent Pogus Caesar's extensive photographic and film archives.