Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum

A conversation with Botswana-born artist Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum. Sunstrum’s practice spans painting, drawing, and installation and is characterized by detailed narrative world-building, and figures who resemble the artist herself but are not self-portraits. On the occasion of her commission for The Curve at London’s Barbican, Pamela has created an installation titled 'It Will End in Tears', which consists of a series of interconnected film sets, inspired by mid-century colonial settings like her grandmother’s village in Botswana. Pamela speaks to Alayo about this exhibition, as well as her life and practice. They discuss Pamela’s experiences of growing up making things with her sister, the power of creating an alter ego character in her practice, her love of Alfred Hitchcock’s films and the literature of South African writer Bessie Head and Nigerian-British writer Ben Okri.Keep up with us:Pamela: @pamelaphatsimoAlayo: @ablackhistoryofart @alayoakinkugbe 'It Will End in Tears' is on at London's Barbican until the 5th of January 2025.