Meet the CSIS 2025 BHM artist, Michelle Peterkin-Walker

Posted on: 18 September 2025 in Posts

Ahead of the 2025 CSIS Black History Month exhibition, meet this year's artist, Michelle Peterkin-Walker. The exhibition, titled 'Reflections on Power and Pride', will be exhibited in the Sydney Jones and Harold Cohen libraries at the University of Liverpool during October 2025.

I’m a socially engaged artist, activist and film maker. I take inspiration from people, places, symbols within African history and culture. My practice combines photography, illustrations and design to create digital art. Digital art enables me to explore the myriad of ways an image can be transformed and viewed. I can continually reinterpret new and existing images. I create positive pictures that resonates our beautiful, interesting and diversely dynamic African cultural heritage. I produce art that is accessible and affordable.

From 2019, I’ve expanded my arts practice to encompass social history. Exploring Black Archives to promote and catalogue cultural activities from Liverpool's Black Community in the late nineties. Liverpool Black Archive Hub and Yore Lens on L8 are Social History and Archiving projects websites. In partnership with Dr Shelda-Jane Smith at the University of Liverpool, I produced a Black Activism documentary for Hidden Histories project – The Threads That Tie Us Together.

In 2022, I founded LADFN (Liverpool African Diasporic Filmmakers Network), a collective of Filmmakers, Creatives, Practitioners and Social Entrepreneurs that centre black identity in their work and/or who use film in their practice. Aiming to connect Black creative communities and enhance the Black creative presence in the city. We held screening events at Sefton Park Palm House, Metal, Toxteth TV. Recently, we have produced a series of shorts for The Endless Love Tapes project.

Currently, I’m working on The Shadow and Liverpool Caribbean Carnival Research project. An archive project to document and celebrate the carnival artist Arnold Davis – Shadow, an iconic Trinidad-born performing artist known for his dynamic and inventive costumes in 1970’s and 1980’s. The project aims to collect stories, memories, anecdotes, images of his elaborate costumes and performances to keep his legacy of ‘Mas’ alive. The project aims to celebrate and safeguard Shadow’s contribution to Carnival arts in the UK.

The BHM exhibition – ‘Reflections on Power and Pride’ is an amalgamation of work I’ve created between 1999 – present. The curation includes photography, prints, cards, small sculptures and films. The collection represents work aligned with the theme for Black History Month UK 2025 - “Standing Firm in Power and Pride”. Collectively, works explore community, activism, revolutionary icons, identity, cultural symbols and Love.

My appreciation and passion for my African heritage and culture has been an intrinsic feature of all my work. Seeking to empower people of Afrikan ancestry politically, economically and socially. As an independent artist in the UK, I'm pursuing my passion for bringing local images to global audiences.