“Heads — In and Out of Time” at Ben Uri Gallery and Museum begins with examples of Ribeiro’s religious work including two “Crucifixions”. Ribeiro (1933-2010) was born into a Catholic Goan family in India, and his early work was inspired by Indian and Goan architecture and the Christian tradition in which he was raised, as well as the work of his older half-brother Souza.
Their complex relationships with their Catholic upbringings when combined with Expressionism resulted in tortured images of the crucifixion into which were fed the horrors of global warfare, experiences of racism in the UK, and the tensions that they felt in India.