Amanda Holiday facts for kids

Amanda Bintu Holiday was born in 1964. She is a talented artist, filmmaker, and poet from Sierra Leone and Britain.

About Amanda Holiday

Amanda Holiday was born in Sierra Leone in 1964. When she was five years old, she moved to the United Kingdom. She grew up in a town called Wigan. Amanda studied art at Jacob Kramer College. She then went on to study fine art at Wimbledon School of Art. She finished her studies in 1987.

Her Art and Films

In the 1980s, Amanda was an important part of the second wave of the Black British art movement. This movement featured artists of Black heritage in Britain. She created large drawings using different materials. One of her famous works, The Hum of History, used charcoal and chalk. It told a story about hope during the 1980s. Her art was shown in big exhibitions like Creation for Liberation and Black Art: Plotting the Course.

Amanda also directed short films. In 1989, she made Employing the Image. This film showed the work of other Black artists like Sonia Boyce and Keith Piper. She also directed Umbrage, Miss Queencake, and Manao Tupapau. Her film Miss Queencake was shown at the Torino Film Festival. It was about a mixed-race teenager who creates a fantasy world to escape everyday racism. Manao Tupapau explored the experience of a model for the painter Paul Gauguin in Tahiti.

From 2001 to 2010, Amanda lived in Cape Town, South Africa. There, she wrote and directed several educational TV shows.

Her Poetry and Recent Work

In 2019, Amanda finished her Master's degree in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of East Anglia. In 2020, she was a finalist for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize. In the same year, she started Black Sunflowers Poetry Press. This was the first poetry publishing company in the UK funded by many people. As of 2025, she is working on her PhD at Brighton University.

Her Creative Works

Art Exhibitions

Amanda Holiday's art has been shown in many exhibitions. Here are some of them:

• Creation for Liberation 3rd Open Exhibition: Contemporary Art by Black Artists. London. 1985.
• Some of Us are Brave. Black Art Gallery. 1986.
• Umbrage. Bedford Hill Gallery. 1987. This was her own solo show.
• Black Perspectives. South London Gallery. 1987.
• The Image Employed: The Use of Narrative in Black Art. Cornerhouse, Manchester. 1988.
• Black Art: Plotting the Course. Oldham Art Gallery. 1988.
• Black Art: New Directions. Stoke-on-Trent City Museum & Art Gallery. 1989.

Films She Directed

• Babel, 1988.
• Employing the Image - Making Space for Ourselves, 1989.
• Umbrage, 1990.
• Miss Queencake, 1991.
• Manao Tupapau (The Spirit of the Dead Watches), 1993.
• The Curtain, 1992.